Protest car killer on murder rap
CHARLOTTESVILLE: A man who has voiced racist and pro-Nazi views faces the possibility of life in prison in the death of a woman during clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. Prosecutors on Thursday increased the top charge against him, and a judge said the case could proceed.
Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert Downer Jr certified a firstdegree murder charge and an array of lesser felony charges against James Alex Fields, who is accused of driving his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring 35 others.
Heyer’s parents and many of the surviving victims sat in the courtroom, as police detective Steven Young described finding “blood and flesh on the front of the vehicle” when he approached Fields’ 2010 Dodge Challenger, about a mile from the episode.
The prosecution played two graphic videos of the attack that had never before been seen in public; people in the gallery watched, transfixed, and some victims — two were on crutches — bowed their heads and dabbed their eyes. Several of the victims wore purple shirts with a picture of Heyer and her last Facebook post, which has become a national catchphrase: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
S eeing the video, Marcus Martin, the man in a widely shared photo of him being flipped into the air by the speeding car, jumped up from his seat, shouted “Take me out” and left with two companions.
One video, taken from a police helicopter, showed a car ploughing into the pedestrians.
The other video, taken from a restaurant near the scene of the attack, the Red Pump Kitchen, showed a string of vehicles heading south on 4th Street, and then the Challenger zooming past.
“That really shook me up; my heart really dropped,” said Rosia Parker, who sat through the proceedings and said she was standing a few feet from Heyer at the time of the impact.
Mr Fields, 20, who has expressed extreme views, drove from his home in Ohio to the “Unite the Right” rally, which was ostensibly organised to protest the removal of statues of Confederate generals from public parks, and drew people from several white nationalist factions. Photos taken the morning of Heyer’s death show Fields with members of one such group — which denied any connection to him — carrying a shield with one of its emblems.
Mr Young, the sole witness at the hearing, said under questioning by Mr Fields’ lawyer, Denise Lunsford, that investigators found no evidence Mr Fields was affiliated with any of the groups assembled that day.