White supremacist convicted of Charlottesville rally killing asked the judge to reconsider a life sentence because of his young age
- Lawyers for white supremacist Alex Fields Jr. argued in a new memo that the judge should reconsider assigning a life sentence because of personal characteristics, including his age.
- Fields is set to be sentenced June 28 for federal hate crime charges after he plowed his car into protesters opposing a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injured dozens.
- Prosecutors rejected the defense's emphasis on his past mental illness, writing that the court should stick to the harshest possible sentence to deter those considering "similar acts of domestic terrorism."
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Lawyers for white supremacist Alex Fields Jr. argued in a new sentencing memo that the court should reconsider assigning a life sentence because of his age and history of mental illness.
The 22-year-old previously pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes after he plowed his car into protesters opposing a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia two years ago, killing one and injuring dozens.
Fields is set to be sentenced June 28, but his lawyers wrote that the "court should find that retribution has limits" and reconsider the life sentence prosecutors have been pushing for.
The Guardian reports that the defense attorneys wrote that a sentence shorter than life would be an "expression of mercy" and a "conviction that no individual is wholly defined by their worst moments."
In Friday's memo, Fields' attorneys emphasized the defendants' difficult upbringing and history of mental illness he experienced while being raised by a paraplegic single mother, according to the Associated Press. Fields' lawyers also reportedly said suffered "trauma" by growing up knowing that his Jewish grandfather had murdered his grandmother before committing suicide.
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors reportedly focused on years of documented racist and anti-Semitic behavior by Fields, which the AP reported included emphasizing that Fields kept a picture of Adolf Hitler on his bedside table. They also reportedly said he was recorded on a jail phone call making disparaging remarks about the victim 32-year-old Heath Heyer's mother as recently as last month.
Prosecutors rejected the personal appeals of the defense, saying Fields' age and past mental illness does not outweigh the charges.
"Any mental health concerns raised by the defendant do not overcome the defendant's demonstrated lack of remorse and his prior history of substantial racial animus," prosecutors wrote.
The attorneys also wrote on Friday that Fields deserves a life sentence, adding that would help deter others from committing "similar acts of domestic terrorism."
Fields was convicted in December of first-degree murder and other charges from a Virginia court. This is the latest development in Fields' defense, which previously saw him argue he was acting in self-defense when he hit Heyer and others with his car.
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