Mom of car attack victim hopes for hate crimes guilty plea

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The mother of a woman killed in a car attack at a white nationalist rally says she is hoping the man convicted in her death in state court pleads guilty to all 30 federal hate crime charges against him.

James Alex Fields Jr. pleaded not guilty to the federal charges last year. He’s scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing in Charlottesville Wednesday.

Prosecutors declined to comment on how Fields’ plea is expected to change.

Fields was convicted in December on state murder charges for killing anti-racism activist Heather Heyer when he plowed his car into counterprotesters at the 2017 rally.

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, says she hopes Fields will plead guilty to the hate crimes so she won’t have to attend another trial and listen to “more of the hateful rhetoric.”