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U.S. NEWS Saturday 29 June 2019

Life sentence for killing at Charlottesville protest

By DENISE LAVOIE During the sentencing
AP Legal Affairs Writer hearing Friday, FBI Special
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) Agent Wade Douthit said a
— An avowed white su- classmate described Fields
premacist who deliberately as being “like a kid at Dis-
drove his car into a crowd ney World” during a high
of counterprotesters, killing school trip to the Dachau
a young woman and injur- concentration camp in
ing dozens, apologized to Germany.
his victims Friday before be- Douthit read grand jury tes-
ing sentenced to life in pris- timony from the classmate,
on on federal hate crime who said Fields appeared
charges. happy and made the re-
James Alex Fields Jr., of mark, “This is where the
Maumee, Ohio, had plead- magic happened.”
ed guilty in March to 29 of The statement provoked
30 hate crimes in connec- audible gasps from the
tion with the 2017 attack crowd that had packed
that killed Heather Heyer into the Charlottesville
and injured more than two courtroom.
dozen others. The classmate said when
Prosecutors and Fields’ Fields viewed the camp’s
lawyers agreed that fed- gas chamber, he said: “It’s
eral sentencing guidelines almost like you can still hear
called for a life sentence. them screaming.”
But his attorneys asked U.S. Douthit said the classmate
District Judge Michael Ur- Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer who was killed in 2017 during a white supremacist rally, was so disgusted by Fields’
banski to consider a sen- gives a thumbs up to the press after the sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr. in federal court in remarks he stopped associ-
tence of “less than life,” Charlottesville, Va., Friday, June 28, 2019. ating with him.
hoping he would take into Associated Press During Fields’ state trial, at-
account Fields’ troubled Heyer was struck by Fields’ Fields drove from his home “The bigotry and ideology torneys focused on his his-
childhood and mental car. in Maumee, Ohio, to attend of neo-Nazism, Nazism, tory of mental illness and
health issues. “You could have done the “Unite the Right” rally on white supremacy and the traumatic childhood.
Just before Urbanski an- anything else but what you Aug. 12, 2017, which drew Ku Klux Klan are a disgrace A psychologist testified that
nounced his sentence, the did,” Parker said, her voice hundreds of white national- to this country and illegal Fields had inexplicable vol-
22-year-old Fields, accom- breaking as she stared di- ists to Charlottesville to pro- acts based on those should atile outbursts as a young
panied by one of his law- rectly at Fields. “So, yeah, test the planned removal be eradicated from the child, was diagnosed with
yers, walked to a podium in you deserve everything of a statue of Confederate United States,” Dreiband bipolar disorder at age 6
the courtroom and apolo- that you get.” Gen. Robert E. Lee. said. and was later diagnosed
gized. Fields appeared stoic and Hundreds of counterpro- Prosecutors said Fields had with schizoid personality
“Every day I think about didn’t look at Parker or testers showed up as well. a long history of racist and disorder.
how things could have any of the victims as they President Donald Trump anti-Semitic behavior and In a sentencing memo, de-
gone differently and how I spoke. sparked controversy when had shown no remorse for fense attorneys said Fields
regret my actions,” he said. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, he blamed the violence at his crimes. They said he is was raised by a paraplegic
“I’m sorry.” said she wanted Fields to the rally on “both sides,” a an avowed white suprem- single mother and suffered
His comments came after spend his life in prison but statement that critics saw acist, admired Adolf Hitler “trauma” knowing that his
more than a dozen survi- also hoped he would get as a refusal to condemn and even kept a picture of Jewish grandfather had
vors of and witnesses to the medication he needed racism. the Nazi leader on his bed- slain his grandmother be-
the attack delivered emo- and that one day he would After Fields was sentenced, side table. fore taking his own life.q
tional testimony about the change his views and no a Department of Justice
physical and psychological longer support white su- official condemned his ac- CAR RENTAL 5616944
wounds they had received premacy. tions.
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“You had a choice to leave Bro said. can values of freedom Cars- Vans - SUV
Charlottesville, but you did After the hearing, Bro said and human dignity,” Eric
not,” said Rosia Parker, a she did not believe Fields’ Dreiband, assistant attor-
longtime civil rights activ- apology was sincere, but ney general for the DOJ’s
ist in Charlottesville who instead was a last-ditch at- Civil Rights Division, said at
said she was standing feet tempt to get a lighter sen- a news conference with
away from Heyer when tence. federal prosecutors.