Trial to Begin For US Man Accused of Killing Woman at White Nationalist Rally

Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of a U.S. man accused of driving into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally and killing a woman.

Prosecutors charged 21-year-old James Fields with 10 counts, including first-degree murder, which could bring a lifetime prison sentence if he is convicted.

Fields was among a group of white nationalists who in August 2017 went to Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the removal of a statue honoring a general from the pro-slavery Confederacy that lost the country’s 1860s Civil War.

Clashes broke out between neo-Nazi supporters and counterprotesters, and the car authorities allege Fields was driving slammed into a group on a street, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others.

The trial is expected to take about three weeks.

Fields also faces federal hate crimes charges in a separate trial. He pleaded not guilty to those charges during a July court appearance, and no date has been set for that trial.

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