White Supremacist Gets Life In Prison For Driving Car Into Crowd At Charlottesville Hate Rally

Alex Fields Jr. (mug shot)

NBC News reports that James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into a crowd protesting white supremacists at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, has been sentence to life in prison.

James Alex Fields Jr. pleaded guilty to 29 of 30 hate crime charges in March in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty for murdering civil rights activist Heather Heyer and injuring more than 30 others when he intentionally mowed them down on a side street with his car on Aug. 12, 2017.

The 30th charge, which included a possible death sentence, was dropped. U.S. Attorney General William Barr directed and permitted prosecutors not to seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors have said that Fields has shown no remorse for the violence and had a history of racist and anti-Semitic behavior.

James Alex Fields, driver in deadly car attack at Charlottesville rally, sentenced to life in prison
Fields pleaded guilty to 29 of 30 federal hate crime charges in March.
Image: James Alex Fields Jr.
James Alex Fields Jr. at the Unite the Right rally pic.twitter.com/gPadLikCeU

— Lynnette (@Lynnett72514891) June 28, 2019

According to reports, Fields admired Adolf Hitler keeping a photo of the German dictator next to his bed.

A former classmate of Fields testified during his trial that on a high school trip to a German concentration camp, Fields said aloud, "This is where the magic happened."

This isn't the end of legal troubles for Fields, though.

He has also been convicted on state charges, including first-degree murder, five counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of malicious wounding and one hit and run count for injuring dozens of others with his vehicle.

He has a sentencing hearing set on July 15 regarding those charges.

The jury in that case has reportedly recommended life in prison plus 419 years.