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Charlottesville Nazi Guilty of Hate Crime

calamity

calamity

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Neo-Nazi sympathizer pleads guilty to federal hate crimes

An avowed neo-Nazi who killed one woman and injured 35 others when he plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters at an infamous white supremacist rally here pleaded guilty to hate crimes in federal court Wednesday.

James Alex Fields Jr., 25, of Ohio, was convicted on 29 of 30 counts as part of a deal with prosecutors, who agreed they would not seek the death penalty in a case that has come to symbolize the violent resurgence of white supremacy across the country.

...

Pleading guilty to hate crimes marks a dramatic shift for Fields, whose attorneys argued during his trial in state court that he sped toward the crowd out of fear for his safety and confusion.
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Yeah, a lot of folks here argued the BS in the bold as well.
 
AmNat said:
It's sad to see our own government holding political prisoners. That's supposed to be something that only happens in foreign countries.
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Yes, running people over is a political crime--"****ing commies!" :roll:
 
He murdered someone and injured many. There can be no claim of "scared by an unruly crowd". His sentence carries the weight of his crimes. This was not random demonstration crowd violence. This was white nationalist violence.

He thinks his crime will land him rank with a racist prison gang and they might pin a badge on him, but he was and always will be a crash dummy.
 
calamity said:
Yes, running people over is a political crime--"****ing commies!" :roll:
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The crime he's falsely accused of is apolitical, but he's still a political prisoner since the motive for the false accusation was his being a political dissident.

There is ample proof that he was in fear for his life from the people who were attacking his vehicle. He should have been convicted of no more than manslaughter.

In any case, even if he had intentionally killed Heather Heyer, there is no legitimate theory by which he would be guilty of a bias crime (he did not target her or anyone else for real or perceived membership in a protected group).
 
AmNat said:
In any case, even if he had intentionally killed Heather Heyer, there is no legitimate theory by which he would be guilty of a bias crime (he did not target her or anyone else for real or perceived membership in a protected group).
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Killing in the name of.
 
AmNat said:
The crime he's falsely accused of is apolitical, but he's still a political prisoner since the motive for the false accusation was his being a political dissident.

There is ample proof that he was in fear for his life from the people who were attacking his vehicle. He should have been convicted of no more than manslaughter.

In any case, even if he had intentionally killed Heather Heyer, there is no legitimate theory by which he would be guilty of a bias crime (he did not target her or anyone else for real or perceived membership in a protected group).
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If you say so :roll:
 
AmNat said:
Killing in the name of a political ideology is not covered by the federal hate crimes law.
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Killing in the name of a hate group is.
 
ecofarm said:
Killing in the name of a hate group is.
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1. There is no category of "hate groups" or "thought criminals" in US law, nor can there be.
2. Killing in the name of hate groups is not listed as an offense in the federal hate crimes statute.
 
AmNat said:
It's sad to see our own government holding political prisoners. That's supposed to be something that only happens in foreign countries.
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Nothing political about it.
 
AmNat said:
Killing in the name of a political ideology is not covered by the federal hate crimes law.
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It is when you rant about Jews and Blacks and then run your car into a crowd full of Jews and Blacks.


You're pretty bad at this. Aren't ya?
 
calamity said:
It is when you rant about Jews and Blacks and then run your car into a crowd full of Jews and Blacks.


You're pretty bad at this. Aren't ya?
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Killing a mixed group of people while holding politically incorrect opinions is not listed as an offense in the federal hate crimes law.
 
AmNat said:
Killing a mixed group of people while holding politically incorrect opinions is not listed as an offense in the federal hate crimes law.
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lol...tell us how that works for ya
 
AmNat said:
1. There is no category of "hate groups" or "thought criminals" in US law, nor can there be.
2. Killing in the name of hate groups is not listed as an offense in the federal hate crimes statute.
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If you don't believe "killing in the name of a hate group" is a legitimate theory, how about this:

Given it was a counter demonstration, he could presume intended targets would be present.
 
AmNat said:
Killing in the name of a political ideology is not covered by the federal hate crimes law.
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Political ideology doesn’t mitigate a hate crime. Fields should never again breath “free air”.
 
ecofarm said:
If you don't believe "killing in the name of a hate group" is a legitimate theory, how about this:

Given it was a counter demonstration, he could presume intended targets would be present.
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No, no. The Nazi is the real victim here.
 
ecofarm said:
If you don't believe "killing in the name of a hate group" is a legitimate theory, how about this:

Given it was a counter demonstration, he could presume intended targets would be present.
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Killing people known to be members of a protected group does not meet the definition of a hate crime. The victims must be targeted because of real or perceived membership in a protected group. Even granting (for the sake of argument) that Fields intended to kill, there is no legitimate evidence that he was targeting anyone on account of membership in a protected group, as opposed to for their political ideology. The only argument to this effect is that because he previously expressed politically incorrect opinions, such an intent could be inferred. That is not how things are supposed to work in a free country.
 
AmNat said:
Killing people known to be members of a protected group does not meet the definition of a hate crime. The victims must be targeted because of real or perceived membership in a protected group. Even granting (for the sake of argument) that Fields intended to kill, there is no legitimate evidence that he was targeting anyone on account of membership in a protected group, as opposed to for their political ideology. The only argument to this effect is that because he previously expressed politically incorrect opinions, such an intent could be inferred. That is not how things are supposed to work in a free country.
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It wasn't self defense.

So whaddya figure?
 
AmNat said:
It's sad to see our own government holding political prisoners. That's supposed to be something that only happens in foreign countries.
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He killed someone and injured 10's of others. How is he a political prisoner? Do you even understand the meaning of the term?

po·lit·i·cal pris·on·er
/pəˈlidəkəl ˈpriznər,ˈpriznər/
noun
noun: political prisoner; plural noun: political prisoners
a person imprisoned for their political beliefs or actions.
 
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