The neo-nazi who ran over a group of protesters and anti-fascist in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, causing the death of one of them, has been convicted Friday of first-degree murder. James Alex Fields Jr., 21 years of age, rammed his vehicle against those peacefully protesting in the street against the white supremacists. The impact caused the death of Heather D. Heyer, of 32 years, and that 35 people were injured. The jury gave their verdict after it ruled that Fields acted with premeditation.
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Three of the dead during the day of chaos unleashed in Charlottesville for a demonstration racist, The alleged attacker of Charlottesville, a young white supremacist
The Circuit Court of Charlottesville, Virginia, rejected the arguments of the lawyers of Fields, who ensured that the young man “acted in self-defense.” The conviction comes after being heard for six days the testimonies of the survivors and detailed the fatal injuries of Heyer. Jeanne Peterson, of 38 years, one of the protesters injured, stated that she had undergone five surgeries and still expected more intervention, as expressed by local media. Among the audience who heard the statements were Susan Bro, the mother of Heyer, and Samantha Bloom, the stem Fields.
The defendant was found guilty of the 11 charges she faced and could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison starting next Monday, the date of the start of the deliberations on his sentence. Moreover, it still awaits a federal trial for hate crime that carries the possibility of the death penalty.
The attorneys of Fields defended his client had not acted because of malice, but by fear of their own safety and for the confusion. Also stressed that he regretted his actions immediately. “I wasn’t angry, I was scared,” said Lunsford to the jury in his closing argument, according to The Washington Post. In the trial they showed a Bahis Siteleri video in which you saw the defendant behind the wheel of his vehicle, a Dodge Challenger grey color, when you backed away slowly and then accelerate to full speed and coiling the group that had gathered to make a counter-demonstration in response to a protest of the extreme right.
Between the evidence of accusation was also presented a dialogue via text messages between the mother of Fields and his son, in which he commented that I was going to go to the rally. She asked who took care of her. “It is not we who have to be careful”, he answered shortly before the event. His warning was accompanied by a meme of Adolf Hitler.
Hours before the event, Fields had participated in a march of groups supremacists in which she wore a coat of the neo-nazi organization Vanguard America. He wore a black shield with two axes of white criss-cross, a symbol common among the movements supremacists. Behind Fields, we saw flags confederate and the statue of Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederacy of the american civil war.
The spark that ignited the atmosphere of tension in the quiet university town was the decision of the city Council of Charlottesville to check out the statue of Lee in a city park. The extreme right wanted to keep it and the counter-demonstrators, of black organizations and anti-fascists, defending the dismantling of the monument, seeing it as a legacy of slavery. The statues are still there. Like the pain caused by the confrontation between the inhabitants of Charlottesville.
