Thread by @socialistdogmom

headed into court now for what should be the last day of this trial. the jury will finish deliberating on sentencing recommendations... eventually.
remember that while the jury provides only a recommendation, judge moore typically goes with those recommendations exactly.

an actual, final sentencing hearing will be set for a few months down the road.

fields also faces a federal trial which should be sometime this spring.

after relatively brief deliberations this morning, the jury returned their sentencing recommendations.

for the first degree murder of heather heyer: a life sentence.
for each of 5 counts of aggravated malicious wounding: 70 years
for each of 3 counts of malicious wounding: 20 years
for the charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death: 9 years

they also imposed a fine of $100,000 for the murder, $70,000 for each aggravated malicious wounding, and $10,000 for each count of malicious wounding.

in total, the jury recommended imprisonment life plus 419 years and a fine of $480,000

remember that the jury’s verdict on sentencing is not the actual sentence. the judge has set the final sentencing hearing for march 29th. he cannot go above the jury’s recommendations but could legally set a lesser sentence or order some sentences to run concurrently.

for the murder charge, life was the maximum possible sentence. the 5 aggravated malicious wounding charges also carried possible sentences of 20 to life. with 70 years being longer than the 21 year old fields will likely live, those are effectively life sentences.

for the 3 malicious wounding counts, the jury chose the maximum possible term of imprisonment (the law allows 5-20 years)
felony hit and run carries a sentence of up to ten years & they decided on 9 (perhaps to avoid the sentence being 420 years?)

as you celebrate the return of the verdict, consider that survivors are still living with ongoing medical needs & accompanying medical costs. please donate to the heal charlottesville fund to support themcacfonline.org/heal_charlotte…iWLF

one incredible survivor took a moment to address the press to speak to the mental illness mitigation presented by the defense yesterday. as someone who also lives with mental illness, they said that racism is not a mental illness. it is a choice.

susan bro told the press that the ideals her daughter died for still matter. black lives still matter. and there is a great deal of work that that needs to be done.

the ever powerful rosia parker led the crowd in a chant of “whose streets? our streets!”

a representative from SURJ reminds us that no state sanctioned consequence for fields will restore the survivors’ lives to what they were before the attack. it will not bring back heather heyer.
we will not have peace without justice & we will keep fighting white supremacy.

the survivors thanked the people who have supported them throughout the trial, specifically ms katrina & ms rosia who attended every day of the trial.
this community loves & supports each other ❤️

i’m headed home to write my final update about the commonwealth of virginia vs james alex fields, jr. but this is not over. not only does fields still face a federal trial next year, but the fight against what was in fields’ heart on august 12, 2017 is far from finished.