Suspect in Fatal Charlottesville Car Attack Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Hate Crimes

The Ohio man accused of killing one person and injuring several others after ramming his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white nationalist rally last year pleaded not guilty on Thursday to multiple federal hate crime charges.

The man, James Alex Fields Jr., entered his plea to all 30 charges brought against him in June by federal officials for his actions during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12.

During a hearing at U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, Judge Joel Hoppe asked Fields if he had ever been treated or if he was currently being treated for a mental illness, Brian McGinn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said Thursday.

Fields responded affirmatively and listed bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD, and added that he was taking medication, McGinn said.

Among the charges, Fields faces one count of a hate crime resulting in the death of Heather Heyer, 32, who died after he drove his car into a group of counterprotesters, according to the indictment.

Two of Fields’ lawyers, Denise Lunsford and Lisa Lorish, declined to comment Thursday about their client’s plea.

The indictment alleges that on the day of the protest, Fields had engaged in chants promoting or expressing white supremacist, racist and anti-Semitic views. Fields later drove toward the crowd of counterprotesters, many of whom were carrying signs promoting equality and decrying discrimination, the indictment says.

Fields then accelerated and slammed his car into the crowd, hitting multiple people, including Heyer, before reversing and fleeing, the indictment says.

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, was in the courtroom when Fields announced his plea. She said in a phone interview Thursday that Fields hardly showed any emotion in the courtroom. When he pleaded not guilty, she said, she stayed silent amid gasps from victims who had been injured in the attack and who were in the courtroom.

Bro said that although she had expected the not-guilty plea, “it was still sort of a punch to the gut.”

She said she planned to attend every court appearance until the trial is over, even if it takes years.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly,” she said, “but they do turn.”