The terrorist convicted in the deadly attack during the 2017 “Unite the Right” March in Charlottesville, Va. has been sentenced to life in prison.
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The Associated Press reports that a judge sentenced 22-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. to life in prison on federal hate crime charges related to the August 12, 2017 attack that left Heather Heyer dead and at least two dozen others injured when Fields drove a car through a group of anti-racism protesters.
Fields pleaded guilty to 29 hate crimes and admitted to his intention to kill others in his attempt to gain as much leniency as possible. A 30th charge would have triggered the possibility of the death penalty under a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Defense attorneys argued that Fields should not receive a life sentence because of his traumatic childhood and history of mental illness. During the sentencing phase of his trial, he begged the court for mercy, apparently to no avail.
Fields was previously convicted in state court of first-degree murder and eight counts of malicious wounding and will be sentenced on those charges in August.
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