It’s in the jury’s hands now. The prosecution and defense have given their closing arguments on the ninth day of James Alex Fields Jr.’s first-degree murder trial. The man charged with killing Heather Heyer and injuring many others when he rammed his car into a crowd at an August 12, 2017, white supremacist rally also […]
It’s in the jury’s hands now. The prosecution and defense have given their closing arguments on the ninth day of James Alex Fields Jr.’s first-degree murder trial. The man charged with killing Heather Heyer and injuring many others when he rammed his car into a crowd at an August 12, 2017, white supremacist rally also […]
The planned three-week trial of James Alex Fields Jr. is running well ahead of schedule. That’s why it was so jarring that proceedings ground to a halt with a two-hour delay December 5 because of a concern about jurors. When court finally was in session around 11am, Judge Rick Moore said some unnamed person said […]
The prosecution rested today in the trial of James Alex Fields Jr. and the defense began its case, both sides focusing on the defendant during and after his arrest August 12, 2017. In prosecution videos of Fields after he was taken into police custody, he repeatedly apologized, asked about any injuries, and hyperventilated for more […]
Marissa Blair Martin initially was unsure if she wanted to go downtown the weekend of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. However, after the tiki-torch march through UVA Grounds on August 11, she changed her mind. She and her then-fiance, Marcus Martin, decided, “We had to so stand up for our community,” she testified […]
“That’s what someone’s eyes look like when they’re dead,” is the only thought that went through anti-racist activist Star Peterson’s mind as she saw Heather Heyer flying through the air. Peterson had just been run over by a white supremacist in a Dodge Challenger on Fourth Street on August 12, 2017. Peterson recounted her experience […]
It took three long days to seat a jury of 12 with four alternates. After all, it’s a national story and the video and photographs of a Dodge Challenger plowing into a group of counterprotesters have been viewed over and over. The defense does not dispute that James Alex Fields Jr., 21, was driving the […]
Lawyers for James Alex Fields, 21, the Ohio man charged with the first-degree murder of Heather Heyer and accused of plowing his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of demonstrators on Fourth Street August 12, 2017, suggested he may argue self defense in early questioning of potential jurors. Fields, a self-described neo-Nazi, is also charged with […]
By Jonathan Haynes The vaulted sanctuary of First United Methodist Church fell silent Friday night as survivors of the vehicular assault that killed Heather Heyer spoke one by one about their paths to recovery. Survivors organized the event to raise money for Heal Charlottesville, a local charity that provides financial assistance to people harmed by […]
In an August 30 motions hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court, a judge heard arguments for why a three-week first-degree murder trial for the man charged with driving a Dodge Challenger into a crowd on Fourth Street last summer should be moved out of the city. Defendant James Fields, who wore a black-and-white-striped jail jumpsuit and […]
It’s about crime The Albemarle County Police Department released its annual crime report for 2017 in June, and while we already published some of the most striking statistics, here’s what else caught our eye. Between the years of 2016 and 2017, crimes rates increased in all but one category. The largest increases were in homicide […]