Man who drove car into Charlottesville rally counterprotesters sentenced to life plus 419 years: reports

The man already sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges for killing one person and injuring dozens more at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., was further sentenced to life plus 419 years on state murder and wounding charges, according to Monday reports.

James Alex Field Jr. was convicted of hate crimes after driving his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the “Unite the Right” rally, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. 

{mosads}Richard Moore imposed the full sentencing recommended by the Virginia jury that convicted Fields in December, The Associated Press reported.

The car attack happened as white nationalists rallied to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

Fields’s lawyers pushed for a lesser sentencing in June, arguing his history of mental illness and traumatic childhood should weigh into a shorter sentence. 

Prosecutors argued Fields should serve the maximum time allowed under law to deter future acts of “domestic terrorism,” the AP reported at the time. 

Fields, from Maumee, Ohio, had already been sentenced last month to life in prison on 29 federal hate crime charges.