Unequal Justice In Fields Charlottesville Trial—and, Increasingly, Throughout the Left’s America
To say the rule of law is dead assumes a precise definition. It means criminal justice is guided
by public opinion, ideology, and media pressure rather than any
semblance of an objective process or written code. It’s to say that
justice is arbitrary rather than blind, and that we live under the same
kind of system the Revolution supposedly ended.
James
Fields never had a chance. The Main Stream Media built up a narrative
about 2017’s Unite The Right protest of Alt Right protesters randomly
attacking peaceful crowds. Journalists used this foundational myth to
justify the Left’s deplatforming and censorship of patriots on a massive scale.
If Fields had been acquitted, or convicted of a lesser offense, the
entire myth could have fallen apart. Thus, nothing was left to chance in
this trial.
Imagine the following occurring in any other case:
- Despite the fact that Charlottesville’s own government enabled violence on a mass scalesimply to shut down the Unite The Right rally and that the city has been in a political frenzy for more than a year, the judge refused to move the trial. [Update: Judge Declines To Move Fields’ Trial Out Of Charlottesville Court, NBC29, August 30, 2018]
- Attorney Charles Weber, a Republican initially assigned to defend Fields, was removed because Weber was also part of a lawsuit to prevent the Robert E. Lee statue from being removed from Charlottesville. [Former Albemare prosecutor Lunsford appointed to Fields case, by Dean Seal, The Daily Progress, August 16, 2017] Instead, Fields was represented by Democrat Denise Lunsford, whose lackluster defense and refusal to aggressively question witnesses astonished observers.
- When the defense did move for some charges to be dismissed, Judge Richard Moore declared in open court that “I don’t know what intent he could have had other than to kill people” . [Text messages, calls allowed as evidence in Fields trial, CBS19, December 5, 2018] Of course, determining intent was the whole point of the trial.
Each one of these is outrageous; together, it makes it hard to regard the trial as legitimate.
One shouldn’t overstate the case. It’s outlandish to say, “Fields did nothing
wrong.” There’s almost no scenario where you can kill or hit someone
with your car, accidentally or otherwise, and not have the law involved.
Fields was accused in the past of attacking his mother and was clearly
troubled. [Charlottesville car attack suspect James Fields previously accused of beating mother, by Dake Kang and Sarah Rankin, Global News, August
14, 2018] Negligent homicide, hardly a trivial offense, may well have
been warranted, and this was enabled by Fields’s own poor decisions.
It’s
incredible that Fields decided to drive anywhere near the crowd after
that chaotic and violent morning. Of course, he may well have gotten
lost—easy to do as Charlottesville and state police had teargassed Alt
Right demonstrators but casually turned streets over to a Leftist mob
during a supposed “state of emergency.” This mob, some armed with rifles, then reportedly shut down streets and even set up roadblocks.
Yet
even the most unsympathetic or hostile interpretation of Fields’s
actions is practically irrelevant. The entire trial seemed utterly
disconnected from what occurred that day. It’s was akin to Camus’s novel The Stranger, where the defendant’s socially disturbing behavior leads to his conviction rather than anything germane.
One
critical piece of evidence that supposedly “proved” murderous intent was
a text Fields sent to his mother before the rally saying “we’re not the
ones who need to be careful” after she urged him to be so. He also
attached a picture of Hitler—idiotic and cringe-making, but not
relevant, and no more extreme than the Communist flags carried proudly
by the Antifa lionized by the MSM as heroes. It’s not as though Antifa
were being quiet about their plans to start a war in Charlottesville.
Indeed, violence was deemed inevitable if the two groups came into
contact—making the actions of the Charlottesville police so utterly
inexcusable.
Fields
also made the mistake of expressing bitterness against Leftist
protesters from jail, including against Heather Heyer’s mom—though these
same “private” conversations show him protesting that he was being
attacked. Again, this was interpreted as damning.
Another
piece of “damning” evidence: a meme he posted ostensibly proving his
“intent, motive and state of mind”—quite a lot for something distributed
months before the rally. [Judge: Car crash meme admissible in Charlottesville murder trial, by Neal Augenstein, WTOP, November 30, 2018]
After
all, jokes (or even serious suggestions) of running over protesters
were relatively common before Charlottesville. State legislators in six
states had introduced bills partially protecting drivers in such
circumstances. [These states have introduced bills to protect drivers who run over protesters, by Dakin And one, CNN, August 19, 2017] The late Bill Hicks had a bit on it, focused on Reginald Denny’s experience during the LA Riots, when a mob dragged him from his truck.
Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds was attacked
for saying “run them down” about a 2016 protest in Charlotte,
accurately noting that “trapping people in their cars is a threat”. [Instapundit Glenn Reynolds defends “Run them down” tweet during Charlotte unrest, by Erik Wemple, Washington Post, September 22, 2016]
Presumably
if someone noted these on social media, this could be used as evidence
if he or she later collided with protesters at some point in life.
Though in the lawless city of Charlottesville
it doesn’t seem to matter, it should be noted that blocking roads is an
inherently dangerous act—one enabled in this case by a Charlottesville
police officer abandoning her post. In France, a “yellow vest” protester
was recently killed by a truck at a protest roadblock. [6th ‘Yellow Vest’ protester dies in France after getting hit by truck, by Samuel Petrequin, Time, December 13, 2018]
What
was truly striking were the outright lies told in the courtroom. The
crowd of Leftist protesters was described as “joyful”—astonishing given
that even Leftist journalists were being attacked by Antifa that day.
But I
was there. I saw the hate in the crowds. I narrowly escaped physical
harm at several points—aside from the tear gas of the police. I know
full well journalists were watching it all and I have since read the
independent report. I find it nothing less than horrifying to see how
casually people go along with what they know to be a lie.
Indeed a year later, 2018, with nary a “white supremacist” in sight, Antifa in Charlottesville still managed to attack people.
Video
from shows other cars being set upon by protesters. Yet somehow the
myth of a peaceful crowd was still allowed to stand. Antifa activist Dwayne Dixon is actually on video bragging about how he waved off Fields with a gun earlier that day, yet Fields’s attorney did not give him any tough questions.
Moreover,
there was plenty of evidence presented that showed Fields’s action were
not premeditated. Fields had entered directions into his phone to find
his way home to Ohio. [Final defense witness located after brief confusion in Fields trial, By Courteney Stuart / Tyler Hawn, WHSV.com, December 5, 2018] He cried when he told people had been hurt and one had died [The Latest: Deputy says Fields apologized after deadly crash, The Daily Progress, December 4, 2018]. The Hill’s Taylor Lorenz’s tweets from that day—subsequently
deleted, presumably for her career’s sake—showed police initially
thought Fields’s actions were unintentional as well. They’re archived here, and here.
Fields
also did not exactly act like a person trying to run down as many
protesters as possible. He immediately slammed the brakes after the
collision, did not go onto the sidewalk, and backed up only after being
set upon by attackers.
At
absolute worst, and with no evidence to support this interpretation,
Fields gave in to a moment of rage at seeing the threatening crowd. More
likely he panicked. Either way, first degree murder is insane—but
political realities demanded it.
The
staggering jury recommendation of a life sentence for Fields plus 419
years for convictions of first degree murder, 70 years for each count of
malicious wounding (five counts), 20 years for each count of malicious
wounding (three counts), and nine years for a hit and run is so absurd
that it would be comical under other circumstances. [Jury recommends life, plus 419-year sentence for James Fields Jr., NBC12, December 11, 2018] The political nature of the conviction is all the more apparent because the charge is so ludicrous.
As
what a premediated attack would look like, we need only remember the
Toronto massacre that Alek Minassian was charged with. He killed ten
people, wounding more, after speeding down the street with “reckless
abandon” and “swerving onto the wrong lanes of traffic and careening
onto a sidewalk” . [The man accused of mowing down Toronto pedestrians is charged with murder, by Holly Yan, Carma Hassan, and Sara Weisfeldt, CNN, April 24, 2018] If Fields had wanted to, he could have killed many more in that packed confine. But he didn’t.
It
is useful to compare the Fields case to the killing of Kate Steinle. In
that case, illegal immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate wasn’t even found
guilty of manslaughter. He was convicted
only of being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to
time served, though he is still in jail as he awaits federal charges. [Man acquitted of Kate Steinle’s murder sentenced to jail for gun possession, by Lyanne Melendez, ABC, January 5, 2018]
Note
that the MSM gleefully mocked conservatives outraged by the verdict,
suggesting conservatives only cared because it was a “white girl’s
death”. [Conservatives are seething about the verdict in the Kate Steinle case, by Matthew Rozsa, Salon, December 1, 2017]
From
a broader perspective, American law enforcement is now entirely
selective. While Fields and other Unite The Right protesters are given draconian sentences, Antifa attackers and the local officials who in effect worked as their partners go unpunished. While Antifa can roam free, groups that fight back are hit with federal charges.
Even the President of the United States is now threatened with
unlimited federal and state investigations clearly designed to “get” him
and his family on something, anything [Incoming New York A.G. vows to make Trump’s life a living hell, by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, December 12, 2018], while criminal behavior by other politicians, notably Hillary Clinton,
is ignored. All of this occurs while tens of millions of illegal
immigrants contemptuously ignore American laws and are toasted by the
wealthy and powerful for doing so.
Unite
The Right seems like a million years ago, at a time when Americans
could reasonably expect that free speech would be protected by the
police, that justice would be equal, and that America was still a free
country.
No
American can afford such illusions today. Instead, we are in a nightmare
situation where the media targets political dissidents and encourages
physical attacks. The state not only ignores the attackers but punishes
you if you do anything back. More than that, your views, even taken out
of context, will be used against you in any legal situation.
Thus,
it’s not just a matter of avoiding dangerous situations, but
controlling your information. After all, as some may argue James Fields
was, you may find yourself in a dangerous situation you never intended
to be in. Make sure you get behind a proxy online, regularly purge your
emails and texts, don’t communicate with friends except on applications
that automatically delete messages after a short time, avoid being
ensnared by the law at all costs, and if caught up in something, don’t say a word without a lawyer.
You
may think James Fields brought his fate on himself. Perhaps he did,
though he certainly didn’t deserve this atrocious outcome. You may even
despise the Alt Right or think people like me who attended Unite The
Right in 2017 are pure evil.
But
you’re a fool if you think this kind of biased “justice” will stop with
Fields, with the “Alt Right,” or even with conservatives. Selective law
enforcement endangers everyone, and, as political violence is
increasingly permitted, it’s naïve to assume you will never be caught up
in a dangerous situation not of your choosing.
We don’t live in a free country. It’s dangerous to believe you do.
And in the eyes of the law, it’s not about what you did, or what the circumstances were, but which side you are on.
Charlottesville Survivor [Email him]
is a white man who voted for Trump. The Left hates all white men who
voted for Trump, whether they were in Charlottesville or not.
(Republished from VDare by permission of author or representative)
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