After a four-hour hearing July 15 in the cramped room temporarily housing Charlottesville Circuit Court, a judge handed down the same sentence recommended by the jury that found James Alex Fields, Jr. guilty of murder and maiming last December: life plus 419 years in prison.

Self-proclaimed Hitler fanboy Fields was convicted of killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens when he drove down Fourth Street into a crowd of counterprotesters August 12, 2017.

Around 50 people, mostly victims and reporters, crammed into the tiny courtroom, where the air conditioning had to be turned off in order to hear. Some of the people he’d injured directly addressed Fields, whose fash haircut had grown out since December and who sported a scruffy beard.

“Hello, scum,” said Star Peterson, the first of seven victims to testify. Judge Rick Moore asked her to address him rather than Fields, whom she called a “terrible waste of flesh” and said that while he was in prison, she’d be fighting the racism and hate for which Fields stood.

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