Crime And Punishment

Justice. Not always swift. Not always easy to detect. Not always ready when we are.
I was ready on August 12, 2017 to send James Alex Fields Jr. to prison for the rest of his life. Mister Fields is the gentleman who has now been tried and convicted of ramming his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of protesters which led to the death of Heather Heyer and injuring several others. The judge sentenced him to life in prion. For the rest of his sad, miserable life. 
His attorneys had asked for leniency, suggesting that "No amount of punishment imposed on James can repair the damage he caused to dozens of innocent people. But this Court should find that retribution has limits." This request came after they had wrangled a deal for their client by which he pleaded guilty to twenty-nine of the thirty counts against him in order to avoid a potential death sentence. 
That was the federal case. In the related state case against Mister Fields, the jury recommends life in prison. Plus an additional four hundred nineteen years. That's what you get for first-degree murder, five counts of aggravated malicious wounding and three counts of malicious wounding in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heather Heyer's mother had this to say: "I don't hate Mr. Fields ... I'm leaving him in the hands of justice."
With a light shining brightly on the murderous attack of a White Nationalist who claimed that he was acting in in self defense when he accelerated into a group of people, none of whom were armed with a motor vehicle of their own. And he ran a stop sign. The standard fine for running a stop sign in Virginia is eighty-eight dollars. 
I would imagine Mister Fields can arrange some sort of work program where he can make restitution for that part of his crime. While he tries to remember what the outside world looks like. And that extra four hundred nineteen years.