White supremacist sentenced to life in prison on hate crime charges in Charlottesville attack


The white supremacist who killed a woman and injured dozens of others after driving his car into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville has received a life sentence on federal hate crime charges.
James Alex Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to 29 hate crime charges in the attack that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured 35 people who were protesting a white supremacist rally in August 2017, NBC News reports. Fields pleaded guilty as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty.
In court on Friday, Fields said that "I apologize for the hurt and loss I've caused" and that "every day I think about how things could have gone differently and how I regret my actions," The Associated Press reports. He was previously convicted on first-degree murder charges, with the jury recommending he receive a life sentence.
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Fields' attorneys had asked for less than life in prison, saying, "the essential property of mercy is that it applies to the undeserving," The New York Times reports. But prosecutor Christopher Kavanaugh asked the judge to impose a life sentence, writing per The Washington Post that Fields "has demonstrated that he feels no remorse for his actions and continues to espouse his hateful ideology."
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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