Charlottesville attacker gets life in prison

A federal judge on Friday handed down a sentence of life imprisonment for hate crimes charges to James Alex Fields Jr., the man who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Fields, who killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured more than two dozen others in the attack, had pleaded guilty to the charges.

A Virginia jury previously convicted Fields of first-degree murder and other state-level charges. The state will sentence him next month. His attorneys pushed for a shorter prison stay because of Fields’ history of mental illness and young age of 22.

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, said she wanted a sentence of life imprisonment, but she also understood Fields was suffering from mental issues. She said during Friday sentencing that hopes Fields “can heal someday and help others heal.”

The Unite the Right rally on Aug. 12, 2017, saw hundreds of white supremacists gather to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. Hundreds of others assembled in counterprotest.