Kentucky-raised driver pleads guilty to federal charges over Charlottesville attack

.A man convicted on state murder charges in a deadly car attack at a white nationalist rally in Virginia has pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges.

James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, pleaded guilty Wednesday to 29 federal charges stemming from the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017.

The 21-year-old Fields was convicted in December of first-degree murder and other state charges for killing anti-racism activist Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. A jury found that Fields intentionally plowed his car into a crowd of people protesting against the white nationalists.

On Wednesday, Fields admitted he violated federal hate crime laws when he targeted the group.

Fields was raised in Florence, Ky., and attended northern Kentucky schools. He was known in high school for being fascinated with Nazism and idolizing Adolf Hitler.

The “Unite the Right” rally on Aug. 12, 2017, drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Hundreds more turned out to protest against the white nationalists.

The car attack came after violent brawling between the two sides prompted police to disband the crowds.

During his state trial, prosecutors said Fields drove his car directly into a crowd of counterprotesters because he was angry after witnessing earlier clashes between the two groups. The jury rejected the defense claim that Fields acted in self-defense because he feared for his life after witnessing the earlier violence. Jurors recommended a life sentence plus 419 years, although a judge still has to decide on the punishment. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15.

The federal indictment against Fields brought charges under two hate crime statutes, including the one under which Dylann Roof was prosecuted for the 2015 killings of nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, S.C.. Twenty-nine of the counts were brought under that statute, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

A single count was brought under a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. That charge accused Fields of racially motivated violent interference with a federally protected activity — in this case, the use of the public streets and sidewalks of Charlottesville. That charge carries a possible death penalty.

President Donald Trump sparked an uproar when he blamed the violence at the rally on “both sides.”