Charlottesville terrorist sentenced to life

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The man who drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Va., killing one person and injuring 35 has been sentenced to spending the rest of his life in prison.

A federal judge issued the sentence of life without the possibility of parole on Friday for self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Fields Jr., 22, of the Toledo, Ohio, area.

The judge's punishment, announced in a Charlottesville courtroom, came after numerous survivors delivered emotional testimony about the psychological and physical toll the attack caused.

After the hearing, prosecutors described the 2017 attack as heinous.

"It was cold-blooded. It was motivated by deep-seated racial animus," Thomas Cullen, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, told reporters. He said Fields' lethal car-plowing was calculated, calling it "a hate-inspired act of domestic terrorism."

"Charlottesville is never going to be the same," Cullen said. "It will be with this community, and the commonwealth of Virginia, and this country, for a long time."

Survivors who testified included Rosia Parker, a longtime civil rights activist in Charlottesville. She told the court she watched the attack from just feet away.

"You could have done anything else but what you did," Parker said, according to The Associated Press. "You deserve everything that you get."

In legal filings presented to the judge on Friday, Fields' lawyers said while he committed a "terrible crime," they asked the judge to also consider Fields' "traumatic childhood and his mental illness," wrote Fields' federal public defender, Lisa Lorish.

Federal prosecutors had asked the judge for a life sentence for Fields. A plea deal brokered in March took away the possibility of the death penalty, and federal prosecutors and Fields' lawyers agreed that federal sentencing guidelines called for a life sentence. As part of the deal, Fields pleaded guilty to 29 of the 30 federal hate crimes he faced and is not eligible for parole.

Prosecutors had said Fields' crimes were "so horrendous — and the maiming of innocents so severe — that they outweigh any factors the defendant may argue form a basis for leniency," according to a sentencing document filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh before the Friday hearing.

Last week, Fields' attorneys asked for something shorter than a life sentence, citing Fields' age and history of mental illness.

Fields has already been convicted of separate state charges for murdering 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of other people. The jury in that case recommended a life sentence plus 419 years and $480,000 in fines. Sentencing in that case is set for July 15.

Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, said in April that she was satisfied with Fields' federal guilty plea and was not intent on his getting the death penalty. "There's no point in killing him. It would not bring back Heather," she told reporters.

But on the other hand, you can tell that this news is completely biased.

I wasn't referring to that piece of s***t. He deserves the electric chair as far as I'm concerned.

Actually, I guess the death penalty is more merciful when you think about it.

Actually, I guess the death penalty is more merciful when you think about it.

Not necessarily.

If you ARE bubba then a life sentence is better than a death sentence. If you're a guy smaller and weaker than bubba then its not obvious which is worse.

And you shoulda made it clear up front that you meant "a life sentence as opposed to the death penalty".

Insteading of leaving it ambiguous and sounding like you were opposed to him getting any sentence.

Unfortunately, I think the Aryan Brotherhood will embrace him with open arms in prison, and make him a hero.

How is it the prison authorities allow gangs to flourish?

I haven't a clue. I suspect said authorities are so overwhelmed that they let the prisoners organize into gangs largely on racial lines, because there's no stopping them.