Heather Heyer's Alleged Killer Indicted for First-Degree Murder

By Rafi Schwartz  |  December 19, 2017 | 6:00pm
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The man accused of killing Heather Heyer after driving his car through a crowd of protesters during last summer’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, was indicted by a grand jury for first degree murder on Monday. News of the indictment was released Tuesday.

James Alex Fields, 20, also faces a number of lesser indictments, including malicious assault and malicious wounding, for his role in the August 12 attack. Field had initially faced a second degree murder charge, which was upgraded to first degree on December 15 after prosecutors made the case that his actions showed signs of premeditation.

“All I really have to say is that I am relieved that the evidence supported upgrading the charge to the first degree,” Susan Bro, Heyer’s mother, was quoted by the SPLC as saying when Fields’ charges were changed last week.

In addition to Heyer, dozens of other people were injured when Fields drove his Dodge Challenger into a crowded group of protesters following the “Unite The Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA, this past summer.

Also on Monday, Unite The Right attendees Richard Preston, Jacob Scott Goodwin and Alex Michael Ramos were indicted in the brutal beating of black Charlottesville counterprotester De’Andre Harris in a parking garage, the Associated Press reported. Preston was also indicted for unlawfully discharging a gun earlier that day.

A trial date for Fields has not yet been set.

 
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