Charlottesville: jury to recommend sentence for James Fields
A man convicted of first-degree murder for driving his car into counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia faces 20 years to life in prison as jurors reconvene to consider his punishment.
James Alex Fields Jr was convicted last week of first-degree murder and other charges for ramming his car into a crowd in Charlottesville on 12 August 2017.
The 21-year-old Fields, of Maumee, Ohio, also was found guilty of injuring dozens of others by driving into a crowd of people who were marching peacefully after the rally.
One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed and dozens were injured during last year’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, organized to protest the planned removal of a statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee.
On Monday, several people who were severely injured by Fields described devastating physical and psychological injuries to the jurors, who will come up with a sentencing recommendation.
Jeanne “Star” Peterson told the jury her life has been “a living nightmare” since she was hit by Fields’ car. Her right leg was shattered, and she has had five surgeries to try to repair it. She also suffered a broken spine and still hasn’t been able to return to work.
Wednesday Bowie said Fields tried to destroy a community that day. She told the jury “the world is not a safe place” with Fields in it.
Also speaking on Monday, Heather Heyers’s mother said what Fields did could not silence her daughter’s love or her sense of fairness and justice.
Heyer was a 32-year-old paralegal and civil rights activist. Susan Bro said her death was like an “explosion” in her family. She said Fields tried to “silence” her daughter with his car, and said: “I refuse to allow that.”
Jurors heard a recorded phone call Fields made to his mother from jail, in which he dismissed Bro’s pain at losing her daughter and called her “the enemy”.
Fields’ lawyers were scheduled to present their own witnesses during the sentencing hearing on Monday afternoon.The panel that convicted Fields Jr will hear more evidence on Monday before recommending a sentence for Judge Richard Moore.