CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - The Latest on the trial of an Ohio man accused of killing a woman during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville (all times local):
3:55 p.m.
Jury selection in the trial of an Ohio man accused of killing a woman during a white nationalist rally in Virginia has gotten off to a slow start.
James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, is charged with murder in the 2017 death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Fields is accused of driving his car into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalists, killing Heyer and injuring dozens more.
After asking general questions of prospective jurors, Judge Richard Moore, defense attorneys and prosecutors questioned individual jurors privately. By 2:30 p.m., only about nine people had been questioned privately. The judge acknowledged the process is “slow going.”
Nearly all of the prospective jurors said they’d heard or read about the case and many said they had already formed an opinion.
Fields’ lawyer said jurors will hear evidence that Fields “thought he was acting in self-defense.”
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12:10 a.m.
Jury selection is set to begin in the trial of an Ohio man accused of killing a woman during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville last year.
James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Fields is accused of driving his car into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalists. Heyer was killed and dozens of others were injured.
Fields’ trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Charlottesville Circuit Court.
The “Unite the Right” rally on Aug. 12, 2017, was organized in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The event drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville.
The 21-year-old Fields was described by a former teacher as an admirer of Adolf Hitler.
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