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A federal court just sentenced James Alex Fields Jr. to serve 2 consecutive life sentences and 27 concurrent life sentences on 29 counts of federal hate crimes. He will be sentenced in state court on July 15. splcenter.org/news/2019/06/2…
Fields drove his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of anti-racist counterprotestors during the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in #Charlottesville in August 2017. He killed 32-year-old #HeatherHeyer and injured 28 others during the attack. 
#HeatherHeyer worried that “someone might do something stupid and someone might die,” according to the sentencing memo. She attended the anti-racist counter-protest anyway. A few hours later she was dead, murdered by Fields. splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…
Survivors still live with physical and emotional trauma of the attack. “The sounds I heard next will stay with me. Dozens of thuds in rapid succession. It was the sound of bodies hitting metal. … I am forced to re-live August 12th every time I walk past Fourth Street,” said one.
Another survivor said, “He filled my heart with such fears and anxieties and altered my very existence at the University of Virginia and beyond. The serious damage to my body and mind was impossible to reckon for too long.”
In the sentencing memo, prosecutors advised the court not to be lenient. “To hold the defendant accountable for his deliberate, callous, and wanton conduct, and to deter others from perpetrating similar acts of domestic terrorism, the Court should impose a life sentence.”
The attack was deliberate. Twice in the months leading up to the deadly rally, Fields “posted two memes on social media that advocated using a car to run over protestors in the streets.” He captioned one photo “when I see protestors blocking.”
Fields was steeped in antisemitism and racism. “He had a serious disdain or hatred for African Americans. He tried to link them to being the reason for the problems with this country,” according to a high school classmate.
On a school trip to Germany after high school, a classmate remembers him skipping joyfully along the train tracks that once carried Jews into Dachau concentration camp. “Like a kid at Disney World. Like he was loving it.” He had a shrine to Adolf Hitler in his bedroom.
Texts between Fields and his mother show that she urged him to be careful at the rally. He replied that he and other white nationalists weren’t the people who needed to be careful.
Fields was initially charged with 30 counts of federal hate crimes for his actions in #Charlottesville, which would have meant the death penalty. He pleaded guilty to 29 counts, taking the death penalty off the table. splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…
Fields will be sentenced in state court on July 15. In December, a jury recommended he be sentenced to 419 years in prison for his conviction on state charges. He will serve the sentence for federal crimes first. splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…
"Though Fields’ sentencing may prevent him from committing future acts of public violence, the trauma he has already inflicted upon his victims, their families and their communities will likely never fully heal." — SPLC's Keegan Hankes splcenter.org/news/2019/06/2…
