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An improvised memorial on the street where Heather Heyer was killed when a car hit the crowd at a white supremacist rally in 2017.
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An improvised memorial on the street where Heather Heyer was killed when a car hit the crowd at a white supremacist rally in 2017.
Debbie Elliott / NPR
The jury selection begins today in the trial of the man accused of hitting his car in front of a crowd protesting against the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. James Alex Fields, Jr. is charged with first degree murder, upon the death of Heather Heyer, and faces additional charges of malicious injury.
Star Peterson was among the wounded. When the "Unite the Right" protest of August 12, 2017 broke out in the violence, Peterson was with a multiracial group of counter-protesters marching in the downtown area. She did not see the gray Dodge Challenger coming from behind, speeding up a hill in a one-way street.
"I just heard three bumps," she recalls. "Two of them were his left tires passing over my leg."
Star Peterson was injured when a car hit the mob in August 2017, at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Star Peterson was injured when a car hit the mob in August 2017, at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Debbie Elliott / NPR
With a neon pink pig tail and a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, Peterson, now 38, is now using a walking stick. She underwent five surgeries and was unable to return to work due to the severity of her injuries.
"He broke my two legs, two parts of my spine and one rib, and then [I] There was also a big laceration that had to be sewn, "she says.
Peterson plans to testify at the trial.
"I have to do something for Heather, apart from laying flowers on her grave and if I can be part of the lawsuit against the person who killed her, I can do it for her memory," says Peterson.
Authorities said Fields, a 21-year-old white man from Ohio, deliberately plunged his car into the anti-racist protest and that he had already participated in the rally with songs advocating white supremacy.
Fields pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyer, Denise Lunsford, declined to comment on the case.
Lunsford asked that the lawsuit be held outside of Charlottesville, arguing that the impact of the event on local residents and widespread publicity would prevent Fields from getting a fair trial and reasonable.
Judge Richard E. Moore of the Charlottesville Circuit Court took the defense motion for a change of venue under advisement. He says that if it is impossible to find an impartial jury among the 360 members of the jury, he will come back to the question.
The main evidence provided by prosecutors will include illustrated videos shared on social networks by witnesses.
"I have the impression that the courts will see my daughter die again, again and again," said Susan Bro, Heather Heyer's mother.
She is ready to finish the lawsuit and hopes that the selection of a jury will not be a problem.
"I want them to have a totally fair and impartial trial," she says. "I do not want to have to do that again 15 times."
She says that she thinks the process could last for years if there are any calls. But no matter what happens, she wants to see the business succeed.
"I never hated Mr. Fields because I felt that he was now in the hands of justice," says the brother. "But I pray that justice prevails here."
The wider community is also seeking justice as it seeks to reconcile the forces that led Charlottesville to stenography for racial conflict.
"I do not know where we're going now," said Don Gathers, co-founder of the local Black Lives Matter.
Don Gathers, deacon of the historic First Baptist Church and co-founder of the chapter of Black Lives Matter in Charlottesville.
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Don Gathers, deacon of the historic First Baptist Church and co-founder of the chapter of Black Lives Matter in Charlottesville.
Debbie Elliott / NPR
"We need to find out how to make Charlottesville more than just a hash tag, and more than just a glance at the racist history of this country," he said.
Gathers has served on a number of citizen advisory committees, including the City's Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces.
He says it's been realized that this issue is at the center of a new civil rights battle.
"We are now at a point where we have to stop having conversations about race and start talking about the real elephant in the play, racism."
Fighting systemic racism is a goal of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. It has raised more than a million dollars for the Heal Charlottesville Fund.
"Part of what our community needed to heal were opportunities to act, opportunities to be really good and honest about our collective history," said Brennan Gould, Chair of the Foundation. . "And also start acting in a way that will help cope with the impacts of this story."
For example, the foundation funded an initiative to increase teacher diversity and improve safety in the Jewish community. Gould explains that his current goal is to help injured victims meet a myriad of needs, including rent, utilities, medical bills and counseling.
"It seemed like the world had moved in a way," she says. "And yet, people still lived and faced the consequences of this tragedy."
The fund helps survivors through a grant to Matthew Christensen, social worker at Partner for Mental Health. It serves as a navigator, helping people deal with things like filling disability applications or finding accessible housing.
"It's all they need," says Christensen.
At present, they need help to cope with the trial, which could, according to him, be traumatic again. But Christensen says the trial itself is an opportunity to be accountable.
"For the author to have to face real consequences because it's a problem with which people are fighting – do not see organizers like Jason Kessler or Richard Spencer face real legal consequences for the organization of this gathering. "
Four rally participants were convicted of violence, but the rally organizers were not charged with any crime. The organizers, however, face a civil lawsuit filed by Charlottesville residents who filed a lawsuit under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
Surviving star Peterson prepares for her testimony in the Fields trial. But she thinks that justice will be difficult to achieve.
"There can not really be justice," said Peterson. "We can not undo what has been done, we can not bring Heather back."
If she were found guilty of lawsuits in Virginia, Fields could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
He has also been charged by the federal government with hate crimes, which allow the death penalty.
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