Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday, “It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute.”
In a fact sheet, the administration mentioned both possibilities. But a hate crimes case would be easier to bring because domestic terrorism cases involve a much higher burden for prosecutors, said Horace Cooper, a former constitutional law professor at George Mason University.
A hate crime is an act of violence targeted at someone because of their identity—and it must be a legally protected class to be prosecuted. Domestic terrorism is violence intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.
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Cooper, who previously was chief counsel for House Majority Leader Dick Armey and is now the co-chairman of Project 21, a black conservative advocacy group.
But, he noted, hate crimes aren’t easy to prosecute.
In this case, Fields’ defense lawyer could argue about the identity of the victim killed, because Heyer, a white female, isn’t the primary target of Fields, reportedly a neo-Nazi.
“The dead person in this case doesn’t necessarily meet the animosity of the alleged perpetrator,” Cooper said. So a defense attorney could contend, “was it racial supremacy views or was it road rage?”
http://dailysignal.com/2017/08/14/h...lottesville-federal-legal-case-could-proceed/
