Virginia Car Attack Possible Hate Crime, Sessions Says
Source: NBC News
by PETE WILLIAMS
AUG 16 2017, 11:03 AM ET
Attorney General Jeff Sessions told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that federal authorities are in no rush to file charges in a deadly Charlottesville car attack and that it's still not clear what those charges might be.
"It very well could be a civil rights violation or a hate crime, and there might be other charges that could be brought," Sessions said during an interview at the Justice Department. "So we are working it intensely on the assumption we may well might want to prosecute him. We're also working with the state and local authorities that clearly have jurisdiction, too. And often they're the ones that have the best charges."
Sessions said no decisions have been made about whether the driver, James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio, would be tried in state or federal court.
Authorities took Fields taken into custody after he allegedly drove his car into a group of counter-protesters. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and at least 19 other people were injured during the tumultuous weekend clash between white nationalists and anti-racism protesters.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-car-attack-possible-hate-crime-sessions-says-n793161
= new reply since forum marked as read
Racists in hiding like to tip-toe around this issue.hard to show hate crime if the victims/targets were the same ethnicity.
