Man Pleads Not Guilty to Hate Crime in Charlottesville Attack
PLEA
He was charged with 30 federal crimes.
STRINGER/REUTERS / Reuters
A man pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges in a car attack that killed one protestor at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year. James Alex Fields Jr. entered the plea while appearing in federal court. He is facing 30 federal charges and several state charges, including murder, in the attack that killed counter-protestor Heather Heyer and injured others. Fields posted support for the Holocaust among other racist sentiments on social media before the rally, according to his indictment. He also texted a family member, “We're not the ones who need to be careful,” and a picture of Hitler, the indictment said. Heyer was killed while protesting agains the white-supremacist rally.