Charlottesville neo-Nazi found guilty of murder

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A white nationalist who drove his car into a crowd protesting against a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year, killing a counter-demonstrator, was found guilty on Friday of first-degree murder and nine other counts.

James Fields, 21, faces a penalty of 20 years or life in prison. Sentencing will begin from Monday.

Fields was behind the wheel of the Dodge Charger that crashed into a crowd of counter-protesters on August 12, 2017, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

A makeshift memorial for Heather Heyer, who was killed during a counter-protest against the Unite The Right rally last year in Charlottesville, U.S., August 11, 2018. /VCG Photo

Fields' lawyers suggested during the two-week trial that he felt intimidated by a hostile crowd and acted to protect himself.

Prosecutors countered that Field was motivated by hatred and had come to the rally to harm others.

The car-ramming capped a day of violent clashes between hundreds of white supremacists and neo-Nazis who had assembled in Charlottesville to protest against the removal of statues commemorating two Confederate generals of the U.S. Civil War, and groups of opposing demonstrators.

The "Unite the Right" protesters had staged a torch-lit march through the nearby University of Virginia campus, chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans.

James Fields is seen attending the "Unite the Right" rally before being arrested later in the afternoon in Charlottesville, U.S., August 12, 2017. /VCG Photo

Fields, a resident of Maumee, Ohio, was photographed hours before the car attack carrying a shield with the emblem of a far-right hate group. He has identified himself as a neo-Nazi.

He also faces separate federal hate-crime charges, which carry a potential death sentence.

In addition to murder, Fields was convicted of five counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of malicious wounding and a hit-and-run offense.

(Top image: James Fields is seen attending the "Unite the Right" rally before being arrested by police in Charlottesville, U.S., August 12, 2017. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters