James Fields, the driver behind the wheel of the Dodge Challenger that ploughed into a Leftist mob in Charlottesville last August, finally went on trial on Thursday (July 5th).
Fields faces 30 federal "hate crimes," including the murder of Heather Heyer, the obese woman who died of a heart attack at the scene of the car accident. Fields pleaded "not guilty" to the charges.
As reported by local online rag C-ville:
Each hate crime charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and it’s unclear whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Wearing a gray-striped jail jumpsuit with bright orange slip-on shoes and rectangular glasses, the 21-year-old Ohio man, escorted by U.S. marshals, strode slowly into the courtroom. He sat next to his attorneys with his back facing those seated in the room, and turned around twice to peer at the crowd, once waving to someone in the first row, who waved back and appeared to work with his attorneys.
While answering procedural questions in a monotone voice before his arraignment, Fields never tacked "sir" onto the end of his responses. He told the judge he has a high school diploma.
"I've been a security guard," he said, when asked about past employment, and he also said he’s been receiving treatment for bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and ADHD, which have required "several medications" such as antipsychotics and antidepressants.
Going by that last bit, it sounds like he's trying to go down the route of mental illness to get some kind of diminished responsibility plea.
But you can be sure that the prosecution in this case is not just interested in convicting Fields. Almost certainly their main focus will be trying to link him, as far as possible, to Alt-Right groups like Vanguard America, as well as the organisers and leaders of the "Unite the Right rally."
The goal here is to use Fields' "guilt" as a justifying mechanism for imposing heavy fines in the ongoing "lawfare" cases against several prominent members of the Alt-Right. Although it looks like Mike Enoch will be alright going by this recently released document:
What happens to Fields in the criminal trial and the remaining defendants in the civil trial will be a test case for how far the law can be bent to serve a blatant political agenda.
The goal here is to use Fields' "guilt" as a justifying mechanism for imposing heavy fines in the ongoing "lawfare" cases against several prominent members of the Alt-Right. Although it looks like Mike Enoch will be alright going by this recently released document:
What happens to Fields in the criminal trial and the remaining defendants in the civil trial will be a test case for how far the law can be bent to serve a blatant political agenda.
