Man Convicted of Ramming Car into Anti-Racism Protesters Gets 2nd Life Sentence
A white nationalist who killed a woman by ramming his car into a crowd protesting a white supremacist rally in Virginia in 2017 has received a second life sentence.
James Fields was sentenced Monday to life plus 419 years for killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring 19 other people after the "Unite the Right" gathering in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017.
Fields had already been sentenced to life in prison on 29 federal hate crime charges for his actions at the rally.
A jury last December convicted Fields of murder and recommended the life sentence.
Defense attorneys never disputed that Fields used his car to ram into a group of marching counterprotesters. They instead suggested during his trial that Fields felt intimidated by a hostile crowd and acted to protect himself.
The car-ramming incident came after a day of tension and physical clashes between hundreds of white supremacists and neo-Nazis and groups of opposing demonstrators. The white supremacists had assembled in Charlottesville to protest the removal of statues honoring two Confederate generals of the U.S. Civil War.
President Donald Trump sparked controversy after the event when he blamed the violence at the rally on "both sides."