The neo-Nazi who killed Heather Heyer by crashing his car into a crowd of counter protesters after a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, apologized on Friday before being sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge, Reuters reports.
Attorneys for James Fields, 22, of Maumee, Ohio, had urged the judge to consider a lesser sentence for the August 12, 2017, attack that also injured 19 people at the Unite the Right rally.
“I would like to apologize for my actions. I apologize for the loss and harm I caused,” said Fields, according to Reuters.
The judge, Michael Urbanski, was unmoved.
“Many of the victims were seriously harmed,” Urbanski told Fields after hearing from more than a dozen victims. “Many of the victims are young people who will have to suffer from this hate crime for many years to come.”
Fields drove through a crowd of protesters demonstrating against the “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville.
Fields rammed dozens of protesters with a 2010 Dodge Challenger, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and leaving 28 more injured.
The demonstrators had been protesting the gathering of neo-Nazis and other far-right activists in Charlottesville, who had turned out in the college town to challenge the city’s decision to remove Confederate monuments from local parks.
Fields pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in March, after being convicted of first-degree murder last December.
The 2017 Charlottesville incident caused some controversy in the US and resulted in criticism by the left of President Donald Trump after pointed out that there was "blame on both sides" for the violence.
Vice President Mike Pence later backed Trump’s remarks and said he stands by them.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)