Avowed white supremacist sentenced to life in prison for hate crimes in Charlottesville attack.
Source: USA Today
Fields, from Ohio, apologized before the judge handed down his sentence. As a part of a deal with federal prosecutors, the death penalty was taken off the table.
He faces sentencing next month on separate state murder charges.
The 22-year-old Fields, who adorned text messages with photos of Adolf Hitler, appeared in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to face sentencing for a guilty plea he made at the end of March to 29 federal hate crimes.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/06/28/james-fields-jr-charlottesville-sentencing-heather-heyer-unite-the-right/1587233001/
Some of his cellmates will no doubt be very fine people...
a kennedy
(29,697 posts)couldn't have happened to a better guy.
RockRaven
(14,990 posts)I hope he never again harms those around him, but I will not hold my breath.
underpants
(182,868 posts)That absolutely rocked Cville. One of the Council members spoke at a convention I was at recently. She said every single thing they do has some a period where they consider how this action could affect/prevent that whole mess from happening again.
titanicdave
(429 posts)....I hope the bastard rots in hell.......
Initech
(100,099 posts)Talitha
(6,611 posts)A century in the slammer still won't be harsh enough of a sentence for what he did.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Maybe he'll become a vocal champion of how race is used by the powers-that-be to keep us all ignorant and fighting with each other.
Maybe he'll write books and give lectures to other prisoners about how he was used as a tool. He'll talk about how we was the perfect victim (young, male, white, relatively uneducated and economically disadvantaged), how he bought into right-wing bullshit, to the point where he was driven (literally) to murder.
Maybe he will lead support groups in prison for other people who have been victimised in the very same way.
Maybe, after 40 years in jail, he will be granted parole, and he can go around the nation giving lectures and offering wisdom about racial understanding to others.
On second thought, LOL! 😂 You and I both know none of that will ever happen.
obamanut2012
(26,111 posts)And, will continue to be until the day he dies. He is their hero, and they will protect their fellow hater.
displacedtexan
(15,696 posts)I have no doubt that this moron will try to be a tough guy until the first harass scares the shit out of him. Soon after, he'll try to claim he's seeking peace on earth to all people. Yeah. Right. Sure. Only a Pure D coward would use a vehicle to murder innocents.
ellie
(6,929 posts)Rot in jail Nazi.
Aristus
(66,442 posts)Rot in jail, shitheap. You know where you can shove your apology...
empedocles
(15,751 posts)lark
(23,147 posts)So glad it was served with this sentence.
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)Rural_Progressive
(1,107 posts)even if trump, and he never would, were to pardon the federal conviction the young man would immediately be brought up on state murder charges if that hasn't happened already.
cstanleytech
(26,317 posts)recent vote in support of gerrymandering is entirely plausible.
Rural_Progressive
(1,107 posts)he simply got taken in by the vileness these groups spew and then he acted out.
I want the people who spew this vileness locked away, then we will truly see justice.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)Too bad the ultimate beneficiaries if not instigators of the hate--the Mercers and Kochs of the world--will bear no burden.
The Mouth
(3,164 posts)There is never an excuse for believing such vileness.
EVERY person is responsible for what they say, believe and do, unless conserved.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)obamanut2012
(26,111 posts)He beat his disabled mother, too.
Why do so many people, even on here, excuse these young white haters as people without agency? He is a scumbag, and was before he killed Heather.
cstanleytech
(26,317 posts)as they do not have parole for federal crimes, correct?
csziggy
(34,137 posts)On the other hand (from the article linked in the OP):
Fields cannot be pardoned by Dolt45 for the state conviction. I think it is safe to say that he will never be a free man again.
pecosbob
(7,542 posts)In the seventies and eighties, federal prisoners were able to receive as much as two-thirds sentence reduction through good time. Last that I heard it had been reduced to fifteen percent of the sentence....you have to complete eight-five percent of your sentence before release...period. I don't believe federal judges have the ability to determine whether parole will or will not be granted...only a parole board can deny parole to a federal prisoner. As such there is no federal 'life without parole'...that's a state thing.
cstanleytech
(26,317 posts)pecosbob
(7,542 posts)In defacto life imprisonment (stacked sentences) this good time is still applied, even though moot. Federal life sentences are pretty rare it seems and there's not a lot of material available. At any rate, while the Sentencing Commission and the Parole Commission are two separate entities one would have to assume that some policy was implemented for these cases.
ffr
(22,671 posts)And all the good she brought to the world around her.
Scalded Nun
(1,236 posts)He is only sorry because we was held to account...just like all the other right-wingers when they get nailed.
Bengus81
(6,932 posts)That Trump loving PUKE can set there day after day after day and think about it until his fucking dies.
Buzz cook
(2,474 posts)True justice will not be served till that is no longer the case.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)At least now Heather Heyer has justice...