Thread by @socialistdogmom

james alex fields, the man who murdered heather heyer and injured dozens of others on august 12, 2017, has already been found guilty by the commonwealth of virginia. he still faces federal charges, however, and has a hearing in federal court tomorrow.

he was originally scheduled for a status hearing today. recently, the docket changed. tomorrow’s hearing will be a change of plea. it appears now that the neo nazi who has already been found guilty of his crimes by the state will be entering a guilty plea on the federal charges.

nothing is not clear at this time! i don’t know if he’ll be pleading to the charges as they are currently (1 hate crime murder, 28 counts of hate crime attempt to kill or cause injury, one count racially motivated interference with a protected activity) or to lesser charges.

my assumption is the goal of this plea is to get the death penalty off the table. fields will be in prison forever no matter what. the formal sentencing hasn’t happened yet, but he will face life plus 419 yrs for his convictions in the state case. he’s not ever breathing free air

the federal hate crime murder charge, however, carried the possibility of death. he stands to gain absolutely nothing by taking this to trial. but he could lose his life. pleading guilty in exchange for avoiding he death penalty seems like an obvious choice.

again, i have zero knowledge of tomorrow’s hearing. only that it’s a change of plea. his current plea is not guilty. it stands to reason he’s changing it to guilty. it further stands to reason he would only do that if offered something he wants, like his life.

and, as the victims prepare to attend court tomorrow, to see the man who tried to take their lives, remember that this isn’t over for them. many still cannot work. they still have medical bills from weeks-long hospital stays. ongoing costs from physical therapy.

we heard from just a few of these survivors at the state trial. in that case, there were charges related to 8 living victims. in the federal case, charges relate to 28 survivors. and there are still more not involved with the case.

it’s been gone from the news for a while. you may not realize the extent to which they’re still living with what fields did to them that day. please, if you can, consider donating to the heal charlottesville fund. it still provides ongoing support.

cacfonline.org/heal_charlotte…