An Ohio man charged with killing a woman during a white nationalist rally in Virginia plans to argue that he believed he was acting in self-defense when he drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters.
A lawyer for James Alex Fields Jr. offered a glimpse of the defense strategy as jury selection began Monday in Charlottesville Circuit Court.
Attorney John Hill told a group of prospective jurors the jury will hear evidence that Fields “thought he was acting in self-defense.”
Hill asked if any of the prospective jurors believe that using violence in self-defense is never appropriate.
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.