Man accused of driving into Charlottesville protesters charged with federal hate crimes

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last updated 27 June 2018

The man accused of driving his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year, killing Heather Heyer, has been charged with more than two dozen federal hate crimes, BuzzFeed News reports. "Defendant James Alex Fields Jr. willfully caused bodily injury to Heather Heyer because of the actual and perceived race, color, religion, and national origin of individuals" in the crowd she was a part of, the court filings allege.

Fields, 21, faces 29 total counts of hate crimes over the incident as well as other criminal charges, like first-degree murder. The protesters he targeted in Charlottesville had been demonstrating against the Unite the Right white nationalist rally.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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