The Mercury (Pottstown, PA)

Man who drove into crowd convicted of first-degree murder

- By Denise Lavoie

CHARLOTTES­VILLE, VA. >> A man who drove his car into a crowd of counterpro­testers at a white nationalis­t rally in Virginia last year was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, a verdict that community leaders and civil rights activists hope will help heal a community still scarred by the violence and the racial and political tensions it inflamed nationwide.

A state jury rejected defense arguments that James Alex Fields Jr. acted in selfdefens­e during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottes­ville on Aug. 12, 2017. Jurors also convicted Fields of eight other charges, including aggravated malicious wounding and hit and run.

Fields, 21, drove to Virginia from his home in Maumee, Ohio, to support the white nationalis­ts. As a large group of counterpro­testers marched through Charlottes­ville singing and laughing, he stopped his car, backed up, then sped into the crowd, according to testimony from witnesses and video surveillan­ce shown to jurors.

Prosecutor­s told the jury that Fields was angry after witnessing violent clashes between the two sides earlier in the day. The violence prompted police to shut down the rally before it even officially began.

Heather Heyer, a 32-yearold paralegal and civil rights activist, was killed, and nearly three dozen others were injured. The trial featured emotional testimony from survivors who described devastatin­g injuries and long, complicate­d recoveries.

After the verdict was read in court, some of those who were injured embraced Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro. She left the courthouse without commenting. Fields’ mother, Samantha Bloom, who is disabled, left the courthouse in a wheelchair without commenting.

A group of about a dozen local civil rights activists stood in front of the courthouse after the verdict with their right arms raised in the air.

“They will not replace us! They will not replace us!” they yelled, in a response to the chants heard during the 2017 rally, when some white nationalis­ts shouted: “You will not replace us! and “Jews will not replace us.”

Charlottes­ville City Councilor Wes Bellamy said he hopes the verdict “allows our community to take another step toward healing and moving forward.”

Charlottes­ville civil rights activist Tanesha Hudson said she sees the guilty verdict as the city’s way of saying, “We will not tolerate this in our city.”

“We don’t stand for this type of hate. We just don’t,” she said.

White nationalis­t Richard Spencer, who had been scheduled to speak at the Unite the Right rally, described the verdict as a “miscarriag­e of justice.”

“I am sadly not shocked, but I am appalled by this,” he told The Associated Press. “He was treated as a terrorist from the get-go.”

Spencer had questioned whether Fields could get a fair trial since the case was “so emotional.”

“There does not seem to be any reasonable evidence put forward that he engaged in murderous intent,” Spencer said.

Spencer popularize­d the term “alt-right” to describe a fringe movement loosely mixing white nationalis­m, antiSemiti­sm and other far-right extremist views. He said he doesn’t feel any personal responsibi­lity for the violence that erupted in Charlottes­ville.

 ?? STEVE HELBER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Susan Bro, left, mother of Heather Heyer is hugged by a supporter on the steps of the courthouse after a guilty verdict was reached in the trial of James Alex Fields Jr.
STEVE HELBER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Susan Bro, left, mother of Heather Heyer is hugged by a supporter on the steps of the courthouse after a guilty verdict was reached in the trial of James Alex Fields Jr.
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