Suspect in Virginia Murder Denied Bond

Jeff Sessions calls the fatal car attack in Charlottesville 'domestic terrorism'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 14, 2017 10:15 AM CDT
Suspect in Virginia Murder Denied Bond
This photo provided by the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail shows James Alex Fields Jr.   (Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail via AP)

A judge in Charlottesville, Va., has denied bond for an Ohio man accused of plowing his car into a crowd at a white nationalist rally, reports the AP. Judge Robert Downer said during a bond hearing Monday he would appoint a lawyer for James Alex Fields Jr. The 20-year-old is charged with second-degree murder and other counts after authorities say he drove into the crowd, fatally injuring one woman and hurting 19 others. Also on Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the attack that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer "domestic terrorism."

"It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute," Sessions said on Good Morning America, per ABC News. "You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation towards the most serious charges that can be brought, because this is unequivocally an unacceptable, evil attack." Sessions also defended President Trump's public response to the violence. The president, he said, "explicitly condemned the kind of ideology behind these movements of Nazism, white supremacy, the KKK. That is his unequivocal position, he totally opposes those kind of values." He predicted that Trump would address the nation on the subject soon. (More James Fields stories.)

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