Trial set in deadly Va. white nationalist rally
Few expect healing in case against man accused of murder
RICHMOND, Va. — A planned “Unite the Right” rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville exploded in chaos: violent brawling in the streets, racist chants, smoke bombs and finally, a car speeding into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.
Afterward, President Donald Trump enflamed racial tensions when he said “both sides” were to blame, a comment some saw as a refusal to condemn racism.
Fifteen months later, as the man accused of driving the car heads to trial on murder charges, the wounds are still raw. Few in Charlottesville believe the trial will do much to heal the community or the country’s racial divide.
“Hopefully, this will signal a chance for healing, although I am not entirely optimistic about that,” said Lisa Woolfork, a University of Virginia professor who was in a crowd of counterprotesters when the car seemed to come out of nowhere on Aug. 12, 2017. Heather Heyer, 32, a paralegal and civil rights activist, was killed. The death toll rose to three when a state police helicopter monitoring the event crashed, killing two troopers.
James Alex Fields Jr., a 21-yearold Ohio man known in high school for being fascinated with Nazism and idolizing Adolf Hitler, heads to trial Monday in Charlottesville Circuit Court. His attorneys declined to comment.
Pretrial hearings have offered few insights into Fields or his motivation. A Charlottesville police detective testified that as he was being detained after the car crash, Fields said he was sorry and sobbed when he was told a woman had been killed. Fields later told a judge he is being treated for bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and ADHD.
Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, created the Heather Heyer Foundation to honor her daughter and provide scholarships to students in law, paralegal studies, social work, social justice and education.
Bro said she is doubtful the trial will bring her any sense of closure. Fields also faces a separate trial on federal hate crime charges.
“I’m not obsessed with him,” she says of Fields. “I feel like I’ve turned him over to the justice system. He’s their problem, not mine.”