CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A Virginia sheriff's deputy has told jurors that a man who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally said, "I'm so sorry" after he was apprehended.
Charlottesville Deputy Sheriff Paul Critzer was called by the defense as attorneys for James Alex Fields Jr. began presenting their case Tuesday.
Critzer said he chased and arrested Fields after recognizing his Dodge Challenger as a car implicated in a hit-and-run of a pedestrian in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017.
Critzer said Fields appeared calm and apologized after being handcuffed.
Prosecutors say Fields attended the rally to support white nationalists who were protesting the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. They say he deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.
Fields' lawyers say he was "scared to death" when he drove into the crowd after witnessing violent clashes between the two sides earlier in the day.
Inciting Riot
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Federal judges have refused to set bond for two California men charged with inciting a riot and attacking counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally that turned deadly in Virginia.
The Daily Progress reports that Michael Miselis and Benjamin Daley remained held without bond following separate court hearings Monday.
Authorities say Miselis and Daley were members of the Rise Above Movement, a white supremacist group. Miselis, Daley and two other men were arrested in October on charges stemming from violence that erupted at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in August 2017.
Prosecutors say Miselis and Daley both traveled to Europe after the rally to meet with neo-Nazi and fascist groups and attended a festival in Germany celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday.
Their trial is scheduled to start in January.
