Jury recommends life in prison for man who rammed crowd

AP

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A jury Tuesday called for a sentence of life in prison plus 419 years for the Hitler admirer who killed a woman when he rammed his car into counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville two summers ago. The decision capped a trial laced with survivors’ anguished testimony and details of the driver’s long history of mental illness. James Alex Fields Jr., 21, stood stoically with his hands folded in front of him as he heard the jury’s recommendation. It will be up to Judge Richard Moore to decide on the punishment at Fields’ sentencing, set for March 29. Judges in Virginia often go along with the jury’s recommendation. Under state law, they can impose a shorter sentence but not a longer one.

The jury deliberated for about four hours over two days before agreeing on a punishment.

More than I expected.

Adios! Amoeba

a reply to: toms54

Life plus 419 years.

I'm not going to comment on the crime, but this sentence is stupid. You can't have a life sentence plus more unless you're expecting the life sentence to not last a lifetime. What is this, Disney bucks? We're talking about years, not credits.

a reply to: toms54

Not good enough - public execution so as to send a clear message to future scum who intend on killing innocents.

I've had enough of cowtowing to this sh!t. You take life, I'm not turning the other cheek, sorry Jesus but that philosophy sucks.

This whole situation is fishy.

The video looked like he was panicking and floored it when his car was being struck by people.

...and the vid someone pulled that showed a bunch of weird behaviors that looked organized and choreographed.

Now he's a nazi-hitler person?

They aren't even real people outside the media.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Wish I had the time to investigate. If a gang started attacking my car my first thought works be leaving before they get through the glass... And that go pedal is pretty effective at doing that.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
This whole situation is fishy.

The video looked like he was panicking and floored it when his car was being struck by people.

...and the vid someone pulled that showed a bunch of weird behaviors that looked organized and choreographed.

Now he's a nazi-hitler person?

They aren't even real people outside the media.

There are actually Nazis and Neo Nazis in the US. Do some googling.

originally posted by: a325nt
a reply to: toms54

Life plus 419 years.

I'm not going to comment on the crime, but this sentence is stupid. You can't have a life sentence plus more unless you're expecting the life sentence to not last a lifetime. What is this, Disney bucks? We're talking about years, not credits.

It's a jury recommendation so the actual sentence could be less.

If the final judgement looks like this, I think we'll see an appeal.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft
a reply to: toms54

Not good enough - public execution so as to send a clear message to future scum who intend on killing innocents.

I've had enough of cowtowing to this sh!t. You take life, I'm not turning the other cheek, sorry Jesus but that philosophy sucks.

I agree that executions should be public.

originally posted by: Mandroid7

Now he's a nazi-hitler person?

He's looking like literally Hitler.

a reply to: a325nt

A life sentence does not necessarily mean the person will spend the rest of their life in prison. Parole is always an option. By tacking on more time it pretty much takes that option off the table.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

If he only gets life, there's still this:

Fields also faces federal hate-crime charges that could bring the death penalty. No trial date has been set.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: a325nt

A life sentence does not necessarily mean the person will spend the rest of their life in prison. Parole is always an option. By tacking on more time it pretty much takes that option off the table.

Sounds like the lawyers were allowed to break the definition of life, to me.
That only causes the prosecution to give sillier and sillier sentences.

Time for a hard reset- wipe law and legal definition.

One reason judges add years on to life sentences is to ensure no amount of good behavior can lead to early release.

Though, I imagine, it is also just as often a statement on the seriousness of the crime.

a reply to: amazing

Research what? The media?

Wait, not the nazi from the charlottsville thing sporting black leather police gloves, a police haircut and moustache and a new jacket with new nazi patches all over it is it?

You might find 3 in the entire country, located in one trailer park.

I'm all over this country and never met one.

I'd bet a g on the one's you are seeing are shilling for the left, trying to invent the "alt right"

But shooting into a crowd and murdering Kate Steinle is perfectly acceptable. Even when you admit to doing it.

Verdict: not guilty. Stay in the USA you fine man.

a reply to: Mandroid7

The UTR was organized by a number of established neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. Why pretend like they don't exist?

Two lives ruined over less than 30 seconds of epic stupidity.

I almost feel sorry for this turd.

originally posted by: a325nt
a reply to: toms54

Life plus 419 years.

I'm not going to comment on the crime, but this sentence is stupid. You can't have a life sentence plus more unless you're expecting the life sentence to not last a lifetime. What is this, Disney bucks? We're talking about years, not credits.

NC
I
It's not a stupid sentence. t's a stupid writer lacking even a rudimentary knowledge of criminal law. The jury did not sentence him to life plus a gob of years. They had multiple charges to consider. They recommended life on the homicide and on other charges recommended various determinate sentences. The writer assumed that they would run consecutively. Under the penal code in NC, a term of years runs concurrently with a life sentence. And actually, in NC a life sentence is really a sentence of 80 years. And NC eliminated parole for crimes committed after 1984.

a reply to: F4guy

That's what it said.

The jury called for a life sentence for first-degree murder in the killing of Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and activist, and also asked for hundreds more years on nine counts involving injuries Fields caused to others and for leaving the scene of the crash.

As for the rest, I'm not sure Virginia has the same laws as NC. They increased all the penalties some time ago while I was living there. Va has also eliminated parole.