Right-wing extremist James Fields drove his car into a group of people at a demonstration in Charlottesville in 2017. One woman was killed, more than 30 people were injured. Fields was convicted of murder last year in a Virginia case and sentenced to life imprisonment. But this is not the case: Before a federal court, he now has to answer additionally for hate crimes.
As reported by the Washington Post, Fields pleaded guilty in 29 out of 30 counts before the federal court. This contradicts the previous approach of his lawyers: These had presented Fields‘ act during the demonstration 2017 in the trial as a kind of accident. Fields had gone into the group because he was worried about his safety and confused, so their previous argument. He immediately regretted it.
The case from 2017 had made headlines around the world because US President Donald Trump had not clearly distanced himself from the right-wing radicals at the time. He spoke instead of „some very fine people on both sides“.
