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James Fields, of Maumee, Ohio, is accused of having propelled his Dodge Challenger into a host of counter-partners at the White Nationalist Rally of August 2017, to have killed Heyer and injured several people, police said.
Fields is charged with first degree murder in Heyer's death. He is also facing five counts of maliciously injuring, three counts of serious injury and one count of failing to testify. Stop during an accident involving a death.
The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty to federal charges. It is difficult to know when he pleaded guilty, but a lawsuit would probably not be necessary if he had pleaded guilty.
His lawyer, Denise Lunsford, did not return e-mail requesting a comment. Fields is held without bail in the Albemarle / Charlottesville Regional Prison.
Prepare for a circus
Moore also explained what he saw as disruptive behavior and banned handbags, bags, signs and electronics from the courthouse.
Fields' defense team called for the trial to be moved from Charlottesville, saying the community was too connected to Heyer's death and other Unite the Right rally violence to build a pool of objective juries.
Fields "came to symbolize the trauma of the associated community on August 12," the movement says. "Despite special attention (jury selection), the resilience of prospective jurors in their attempts to advance can easily become a detriment to Fields, harm that will be little recognized by the people involved and difficult, even impossible, to find. "
Prosecutors countered that pre-trial advertising was not a reason to change locations. According to one request, they discussed with the court the possibility of bringing in 300 potential jurors or more, instead of the usual 40 to 60 judges.
Heyer's death follows months of violence
White nationalist Richard Spencer led protesters brandishing the torch in Charlottesville for the first time in May 2017. Protesters were unhappy with the city council's decision to reorganize two parks named after Confederate generals and remove the bronze statue of one of these generals, Robert E. Lee, from an eponymous downtown park.
Counter-candidates met them with banners bearing the inscriptions "Black Lives Matter" and "F ** k White Supremacy". The police made three arrests. A police officer was injured when a flying object hit him in the head.
There was more violence in July when about 50 members of the Ku Klux Klan clashed with counter-partners, prompting police to disperse tear gas and arrest 22 people.
After the fights that erupted on August 11, the night before Heyer's assassination, police declared an illegal demonstration at the University of Virginia and ordered white nationalists and counterprotests to disperse.
On the morning of the 12 August rally, fresh clashes erupted, forcing police to clear Emancipation Park, formerly Lee Park (now known as Market Street Park). The day was ruined by pepper spray, shouting and fist fights. Before the rally could begin, the police decided the protest was an illegal gathering and Governor Terry McAuliffe declared an emergency.
Fighting continued to erupt around the city. That afternoon, Fields would have thrown his car into the crowd.
One could not see the fields driving the car, but aerial footage of the Virginia State Police showed it coming down from the car and onto the ground after the collision.
"He had an African American friend"
When he was young in Union, Kentucky, Fields had "extravagant and very radical beliefs," said his former professor of social studies, Derek Weimer.
"It was clear that he had extremely extreme views and maybe a little anger behind them," said Weimer. "He really adhered to this white supremacist affair, he was very attached to Nazism, he really had a penchant for Adolf Hitler."
After graduating, Fields joined the army in August 2015 but left active duty after failing to meet the training standards, said the army spokeswoman. Colonel Jennifer Johnson.
"As a result, he has never been assigned a military professional competence or assigned to a unit outside of basic training," she said.
Fields was working for a security company at the time of his arrest. He has since been fired, the company said.
Her mother, Samantha Bloom, told The Blade, in Toledo, Ohio, that she thought her son had traveled to Virginia for a rally related to President Donald Trump. She was surprised that her son had attended an event with white supremacists, she said.
"He had an African American friend," she told The Blade.
Fields is excused and cried after his arrest
At a previous hearing in the Fields case, detective Steven Young, of Charlottesville, said he was patrolling in Emancipation Park when he received a call regarding the alleged hit and run who killed Heyer.
By the time Young arrived on the scene, Fields was already on the ground, handcuffed, he said. There was blood and flesh on the front of the Challenger, the front fender was torn and the windshield was cracked, he said.
During the cross-examination of the Lunsford Lawyer, Fields' lawyer, the detective acknowledged that after his arrest, Fields had repeatedly stated "I apologize" and had asked if everything was fine.
Fields looked shocked and started sobbing as he learned that Heyer had been killed, Young said. Fields told investigators that he had gone to Charlottesville alone and that he wanted to hear a speaker at the rally, the detective said.
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