US: Charlottesville car attacker pleads guilty

WASHINGTON

A man who drove his car into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a woman and injuring dozens of others, pled guilty Wednesday to 29 of the 30 federal counts he was charged with.

James Alex Fields Jr. participated in the "Unite the Right" extremist gathering of white nationalists and white supremacists in August 2017 when he carried out the attack on counter-protesters.

Each count Fields Jr. pled guilty to carries a maximum life sentence and a quarter-million dollar fine.

The sole charge that was dropped carried a possible death sentence.

“In the aftermath of the mass murder in New Zealand earlier this month, we are reminded that a diverse and pluralistic community such as ours can have zero tolerance for violence on the basis of race, religion, or association with people of other races and religions,” Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement announcing Fields Jr.'s plea.

Barr was referring to the white nationalist-motivated attack on two New Zealand mosques that resulted in the deaths of 50 Muslim worshipers.

Fields Jr. said in his signed plea deal that he drove into the crowd of counter-protesters because of their actual and perceived race, color, national origins and religions and admitted he killed Heather Heyer, 32, and intended to kill others, according to the Justice Department.

He was convicted in a Virginia state court in December of killing Heyer and injuring dozens of others. He was sentenced to life in prison following the conviction on state charges.