CHARLOTTESVILLE, Vir. (NBC) – The driver who ran his car into a group of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia was sentenced to life in prison.
James Alex Fields, Jr. was charged with murdering civil rights activist Heather Heyer and injuring more than 30 others when he intentionally mowed them down with his car in August of 2017.
Fields pleaded guilty to 29 of 30 hate crime charges in March in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, said at the sentencing that she wanted fields to spend the rest of his life in prison. “Very happy he got life in prison across the board,” she said. “I did not want the death penalty — blood on my hands. He probably deserved it, but it really wouldn’t accomplish anything.”
Her statement was one of more than a dozen given by survivors and witnesses during the hearing.
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Eric Dreiband said, “The defendant committed an act of disgraceful white supremacist violence. He killed Heather Heyer, he could’ve killed many others, and in fact, he injured or attempted to injure or kill at least 30 other persons. He committed these atrocious acts of violence because of his white supremacist racial bias. He harmed his whole community and he harmed our country through despicable racial violence.”
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