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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – Sixteen months after white supremacists threw themselves into a swastika in the streets of Charlottesville, one of the protesters was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday by a jury that had concluded that he deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterfeiters, killing a woman and injuring nearly 40 others
James Fields Jr., 21, risked life imprisonment for the death of Heather Heyer, 32, in an affair that provoked introspection in a city that prides itself on being a liberal stronghold. Mr. Fields, a native of Ohio to attend the Unite the Right rally, was also convicted of nine other counts, including serious and malicious injuries and the fact of being rendered at the scene of a fatal accident.
The verdict on Friday was applauded by those who fought for racial and religious reasons. hate and put an end to a case that brought to light Charlottesville, scene chosen by racists and anti-Semites to rally to their cause, near a Confederate monument that some city leaders were trying to 39; removing.
"This verdict sends a strong message to others that hatred has no place in our society," said Jonathan Greenblatt, general manager of the Anti-Defamation League.
The attack , in which Mr. Fields devastated a narrow street teeming with counter-protestors, was a deadly coda for a weekend of white nationalist events in Charlottesville last August, which included a preparatory march with torches to the statue Thomas Jefferson on the campus of the University of Virginia The rally was marked by violent clashes between white candidates and white nationalists, some of whom were sentenced earlier this year. [19659002] Many of Fields' victims have clashed with protesters earlier in the day and were about to return home, as the authorities had ended the event when his Dodge Challenger l & # 39;
[Lire: One year after the nationalist white rally, Charlottesville is in fierce struggle ]
M. Fields showed no emotion and sat between his lawyers while a clerk read the unanimous verdicts and questioned the jury of seven women and five men, including an African-American. At one point, Mr. Fields glanced at his mother, who, dressed in black and sitting in a wheelchair, was sobbing softly in a tissue. Judge Richard E. Moore of the Charlottesville Court of Appeal upheld the verdicts without making any comment.
His victims sobbed, got bogged down, and gently applauded inside the crowded audience hall. Several joined Star Peterson, a single mother whose legs and back were broken during the accident. Constance Paige Young, who was also injured, said that the federal government's guilty verdicts and the upcoming hate crime trial "would set a precedent that this white nationalist violence since the creation of this country has not occurred. is more tolerable ".
The trial days were rich in emotional testimonies of critically injured victims in the accident, including Ms. Peterson and Marcus Martin, who pushed her girlfriend off the road, suffering the shock of the accident. ;impact. Later, he married her. Many victims returned to the courtroom day after day to listen to other witnesses, and the jurors saw them hugging and comforting each other.
For most of his testimony, Mr. Fields betrayed no emotion and seemed apathetic when his victims described their pain and lasting injuries.
But Courtney Commander, whose car touched the knee, said that in the early days of the testimony, Mr. Fields uttered the word "I'm sorry," which prompted her to two more victims leave the courtroom.
"I do not even know how to react on this," she said before the verdict. "Even if he is sorry, that will not bring back my friend."
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Mr. Fields intended to cause harm by coming from the Ohio to go to the meeting. In an SMS exchange with her mother, she told him to pay attention. "This is not us [s] who must be careful," he replied in a message also including a photo of Adolf Hitler.
Prosecutors also showed the jury a caricature that Mr. Fields had shared a few months earlier. Instagram of a car hitting the crowd, with the words: "You have the right to protest, but I'm late for work." Other evidence included recordings of conversations Mr. Fields had with his mother after his arrest, in which during the demonstration, the counter-partners described the counter-candidates as a "band of violent terrorists" and ridiculed Ms. Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, as an "anti-white liberal" who should be considered an enemy.
[Read: At the Charlottesville murder trial, the courtroom recounts the trauma of a violent day ]
M. Fields' defense lawyers did not dispute the fact that he had driven his car into the crowd, but had claimed that he had "acted out of fear" rather than maliciously, highlighting the clashes and clashes earlier in the day between Unite the Right participants and anti-racist activists.
"Nothing proves that he came ready to hurt," said defense attorney John Hill at the trial. The defense called to testify Dwayne Dixon, an anti-racist activist, who admitted to having shouted against a gray car while he was carrying an AR-15 rifle on the shoulder.
But a video of that day showed Mr. Fields' car. idling and then back down before diving into the crowd.
The jurors were visibly moved by the testimony of the victims describing the accident. Mr Fields left – a sports shoe still stuck in the car's grille – and was stopped on a road heading towards the city. During a conversation with a policeman, the voice calm and calm, he said: "I did not want to hurt people, but I thought that they were attacking me." When we told him said one person had died and that many had been injured, A prosecutor, Nina-Alice Antony, argued that Mr. Fields clearly had "the specific intent to kill a human being", even though He did not target a particular person in the crowd.
This rally, which claimed to defend the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, which some of the city were trying to suppress, was tearing up the fabric of Charlottesville even before it, while anti-racist activists implore city officials
City leaders finally tried to stop the rally, but a judge allowed him to move forward, citing the right to freedom of expression.
The violence that has burst, especially the fatal accident, gave elected officials new ammunition in their reach asking the judges to restrict the white nationalist events.
The removal of the statues has garnered growing support, and many local Republican officials have distanced themselves from those associated with the rally. President Trump has been widely criticized for his remarks that "very good men on both sides" were at the root of the violence
. Almost all the officials who held power at the time have since resigned or retired. The city lawyer, who concluded that there was no legal way to stop the rally, landed a job in another city. The police chief resigned as a result of a critical report accusing him of failing to protect the public. The City Manager, who oversaw the city's response, also left the post and a permanent replacement has not yet been found.
Instead of uniting the right, the purported goal of the rally, he gave power to a left-wing political coalition that undertakes to confront generations economic injustice. However, despite the radical overhaul of the city's leadership, the change in depth has been slow.
The Confederate Bronze Generals who triggered the rally remain riding in public parks. Activists still demand their withdrawal. A judge forbids it again. Their fate could be decided next month.
A sentencing hearing with the same jury is scheduled to begin Monday, pending any delays in a weekend snowstorm. Mr. Fields could also be sentenced to death in a second trial under the charge of hate crimes pronounced before the federal government next year. The victims said that a verdict of guilt in this case would be essential to convey the message that a violent white supremacy would not be tolerated.
Outside the courthouse on Friday night, a few blocks from Mr. Fields, he drove his car. the crowd – punctuating this afternoon of August with cries and chaos – many of its victims stood on the steps. With the lights of the local television cameras shining on their faces, they chanted provocatively: "Whose streets? Our streets! "
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