James Alex Fields Jr.

James Alex Fields Jr(born April 26, 1997), is a resident of Maumee, Ohio. He is registered as the owner of a gray 2010 Dodge Challenger that ran into protesters at the Unite the Right rally. [2] [32] [29]

He was found guilty of killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others on December 7, 2018. [56]

Background

James was born in Kenton, Kentucky to Samantha Bloom. His father was killed by a drunk driver a few months before James was born. [48] He is registered to vote in Lucas County, Ohio and put his party affiliation as Republican. [1] [33] Neighbors describe James as quiet and keeping to himself. When James turned 18 he demanded a inheritance his deceased father left for him. [48] In 2016, James and his mother moved from Florence, Kentucky to Northwest Ohio for her job. About five to six months before August, James moved out of his mother's place into his own apartment. [47]

James' Facebook is full of pictures pertaining to meme culture and the alt right. Examples include an aesthetic "The CIA can't defeat weaponized autism," pictures of Pepe and Wojak (feels guy), a Trump 'Make America Great Again' banner, and an Assad meme. [36] [39] [38] He is a big fan of Nazi memorabilia. [49] A former teacher of James said that he idolized Adolf Hitler and was fascinated by Nazism. He wrote a paper which was described as a lovefest for the German military and Waffen-SS. [54]

Derek Weimer, who taught history to Fields at Randall K. Cooper High School in Union, Kentucky, says Fields had “radical ideas on race” as a student. [49] However, his mom says he has a black friend. [52]

Before his arrest, he was making $650 every two weeks working for Securitas, a security company, and noted that he couldn't afford a lawyer. The company s terminated Fields' employment on August 14, 2017. [55]

Military Service

From August 18th to December 11th, 2015, James was listed as an Active Duty Service Member in the United States Army. [24] He was kicked out of the Army because of his infatuation with Nazis, although some say it was in fact because he had a history of being prescribed Antipsychotic medications. [49]

Unite the Right Rally

Unite the Right was a rally that took place at noon on Saturday August 12th, 2017. The rally was self described as "pro-white" by its organizer, Jason Kessler, and its purpose is to protest the planned removal of a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee from a park in Charlottesville, Virginia. [3]

A Pre-rally march took place the night before, on Friday night, where many people headed to protest the rally. Violence broke out amongst antifa members and the alt-right members of the march. [4]

On the day of the rally, James can be alongside Vanguard America wearing their uniform and holding a shield with their logo (Vanguard America denies having any affiliation with him). [35] [34] Just minutes after its start, at noon, the police called the protest an unlawful gathering and attempted to disburse the white nationalists and counter protesters from a central location. [5]

Car Incident

At the rally, James drove his car into a group of several hundred protesters. Initially, rumors went around naming Joel Vangheluwe as the culprit in the incident as people found the vehicle to be registered to his father, Jerome. Joel denied the claims, saying that he sold the Challenger and that he was at a wedding with his girlfriend. [10] [29] [32]

People later tracked down the Challenger to be registered to James and he was arrested by police. [10] [29] [32]

Matt Korbon, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, said several hundred counter-protesters were marching when “suddenly there was just this tire screeching sound.” A silver Dodge Challenger smashed into another car, then backed up, barreling through “a sea of people.” [48] Taylor Lorenz, Tech reporter for The Hill, tweeted that police officers think that the person that ran people down was not malicious in intent and that the driver was scared. His car was being swarmed and some of them turned violent. [16] Lorenz was also punched in the face at the rally. [32] 19 people were injured in the incident. [47] A 32-year-old woman, identified as Heather Heyer died as a result of the incident. [29] [32] Her death is being investigated as a homicide. [29] [32]

Legal Proceedings

James was charged with one count of second degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit and run attended failure to stop with injury. [32]

The FBI and the Department of Justice stated that they would be opening an investigation into the deadly crash. [32]

On August 14, 2017, wearing a black and white jumpsuit, Fields appeared via video link from jail in front of Judge Robert Downer. [55]

The judge named a local defense attorney, Charles Weber, to represent Fields. No bond was set, and Fields remains in custody. [55]

On December 7, 2018, Fields was found guilty of killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. [56]