Justice has officially been served in the Charlottesville riots case, nearly two years after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. James Alex Fields Jr, 22, who killed a woman and injured several others when he plowed through a crowd of counter-protesters at the 2017 Unite the Right Rally, has been sentenced to life in prison for his actions.
Back in March, Fields pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crimes, as part of his plea deal that spared his life, eliminating the death penalty as a possible sentence. Three months later, US Judge Michael F. Urbanski sentenced Fields to life behind bars for the attack.
The decision came after multiple testimonies and details of the incident, which included video footage of the attack that claimed the life of Heather Heyer. However, it also came after Fields pleaded for a lesser sentence in a memorandum, according to CNN, which asked the court to refrain from handing down a life sentence due to his age, history of mental illness and childhood trauma.
In the meantime, Fields is still awaiting sentencing for his state charges for the same incident, in which he was convicted of first-degree murder, five counts of aggravated malicious wounding and three counts of malicious wounding.
In that case, a jury recommended life in prison plus 419 years, but the final decision will be made in July.
