Charlottesville driver pleads guilty to hate crimes

A man convicted on state murder charges in a deadly car attack at a white nationalist rally in Virginia in 2017 pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal hate crime charges. A Virginia jury previously found James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, guilty of intentionally plowing his car into a crowd of people at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017, injuring more than 30 people and killing anti-racism activist Heather Heyer. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to 29 of 30 federal charges, excluding one count that carried a potential death penalty.

The rally drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Hundreds more turned out to protest against the white nationalists. Jurors in Fields’ state trial recommended a life sentence plus 419 years, although a judge still has to decide on the punishment. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15 in the state case and July 3 in the federal case against Fields.