Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of the man accused of ramming his car through a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. last year, NPR reports James Alex Fields, Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Heather Heyer, and faces additional charges of malicious wounding. When the August 12, 2017 “Unite the Right” rally erupted in violence, Star Peterson was with a multi-racial group of counter-protesters marching downtown. She didn’t see the gray Dodge Challenger coming from behind, accelerating down a hill on a narrow one-way street. “I just heard three bumps,” she recalls. “Two of them were his left tires going over my leg.” Peterson, 38, who plans to testify, now uses a cane for walking. She’s had five surgeries and has not been able to go back to work due to the severity of her injuries.
“I need to do something for Heather other than just lay flowers at her grave and if I can be part of prosecuting the person who killed her then that’s something I can do for her memory,” says Peterson. Authorities say Fields, a 21-year old white man from Ohio, deliberately plowed his car into the anti-racist demonstration and say he had earlier participated in the rally with chants promoting white supremacy. Defense attorney Denise Lunsford wants the trial moved outside of Charlottesville, arguing the impact of the event on local residents and widespread publicity will prevent Fields from getting a fair trial. Court Judge Richard Moore says if an impartial jury cannot be found from the large jury pool of 360 people, he will revisit the matter.