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Witnesses in Fields Trial Recount Deadly Crash

(Izabel Zermani via AP)

After three lengthy days of jury selection, the first witnesses at the trial of James Fields, Jr. gave dramatic testimony Thursday.

If you saw the award-winning photo of the crash that claimed Heather Heyer’s life, you’ve seen Marcus Martin – a young black man caught in mid-air after he was hit by a Dodge Charger.  On the stand, he trembled and wept as he recalled the moment when his colleague from work, Heather Heyer, was killed – when he and about  30 others were injured. 

There is no doubt that James Fields, then 20 years old, was behind the wheel.  Both the prosecutor and the defense agree, but Fields’ attorneys hope to show that he was trying to escape a hostile crowd. John Hill says Fields first endured harassment as he walked from his car to the park where the rally was held, and the scene became increasingly tense and chaotic after that.

Casting doubt on the claim that Fields acted in self-defense, Michael Webster testified that Fields sat near the intersection of Fourth Street and the downtown mall, his car idling until a crowd appeared.  He backed up slowly, then raced forward, hitting Heyer and more than 30 others, speeding away, the prosecutor noted, with Heyer’s flesh and blood was on his car.

Fields, wearing a light-blue Oxford shirt and a dark blue pullover, showed little emotion in court, even when prosecutors mentioned a text exchange he had with his mother.  Before he reached Charlottesville she wrote: “Be careful.”  He replied: “We’re not the ones who need to be careful."

Assistant prosecutor Nina Antony told the jury Fields had driven more than 500 miles through the night, from Maumee, Ohio to join the Unite the Right rally. " James Fields was here with anger," she argued.  "This case is about his decision to act on that anger." 

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief