Federal hate crimes charges against driver at Charlottesville National Rally: NPR

A 21-year-old man from Ohio accused of killing a woman last summer by deliberately blowing up his car against white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, now faces federal charges of hate crimes.

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury in Charlottesville has accused James Alex Fields Jr. of a hate crime charge leading to the death of Heather Heyer.

Heyer was demonstrating during the counterprotection on August 12 when authorities said Fields deliberately propelled his gray Dodge Challenger into the crowd, killing the 32-year-old and injuring several others. The graphic video of the incident was shared on social media.

Fields was also charged Wednesday with 28 counts of hate crime causing injury and involving an attempt to kill.

In all cases, prosecutors claim that Fields deliberately injured the victims because of their real or perceived race, color, religion, and national origin.

The federal charges were filed in addition to the charges that Fields was already facing in Virginia. He was arrested and charged with second degree murder shortly after the incident, and in December, a judge rebadessed the charge of first degree murder. Fields must stand trial for these charges in November.

The federal indictment released on Wednesday revealed new details in the case.

He says Fields has demonstrated a history of racism that "expressed and promoted his belief that whites are superior to other races and peoples" through multiple social media accounts.

And while Fields was preparing to leave his home in Maumee, Ohio, to get to the Unite the Right rally, some 550 miles away, prosecutors say he sent a disturbing message to a parent.

A family member had texted him, urging him to pay attention.

"We are not the ones who have to be careful," replied Fields, according to the indictment. Attached to the message was a picture of Adolf Hitler.

The fields arrived in Charlottesville on Saturday, prosecutors said, and participated in the rally, chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans.

He then returned to his car and watched a group of counterproters singing and wearing signs promoting equality. While the crowd was walking up Fourth Street, prosecutors said that Fields had backtracked, then quickly accelerated, stopping only once it had struck a other vehicle.

The Unite the Right rally was identified as an opportunity for protesters to take a stand against the city's decision to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee in the Emancipation Park and was widely promoted as an event of white supremacy.

He devolved to violence from the start.

A torch-lit rally the previous night on the campus of the University of Virginia saw protesters chanting racist slogans and fights with counterpronectors.

Violence continued at the main event Saturday when two Virginia state soldiers also died in a helicopter crash.

"The violence of last summer in Charlottesville ended a promising young life and shocked the nation," said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement Wednesday. "The indictment of today should send a clear message to all potential criminals in America that we aggressively pursue violent hate crimes that threaten the fundamental principles of our nation. "

The rally gave rise to a wider debate on race relations in the country.

President Trump faced heat for comments he made that seemed to equate white supremacists with counter-protesters, saying "there are reproaches on both sides" for the violence.

The sessions, however, emerged as a first voice denouncing the violence and saying that the car accident that killed Heyer met the standard for "domestic terrorism".

The sessions opened a civil rights investigation shortly after the attack.