CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. _ A Virginia judge on Monday declined to set bail for James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old Ohio man accused of second-degree murder and other charges after authorities said he plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters near the scene of a white supremacist rally that erupted into violence.
That means Fields, whom news reports have described as fascinated by Nazism, will remain jailed at least until he has an attorney.
The local public defenders' office informed the court it could not represent him because of a potential conflict of interest _ someone in the office has a relative who was hurt during Saturday's violence in Charlottesville.
A local attorney will be appointed to represent Fields and could request bail before the next scheduled hearing, Aug. 25.
Fields, clad in a black-and-white striped uniform, appeared via video link for the hearing. He briefly responded to questions from Judge Robert Downer, replying "No, sir," when asked if he had any ties to the Charlottesville community.
Saturday's car rampage killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was among the crowd of counter-protesters responding to the rally by white nationalists and others who oppose a plan to remove from a Charlottesville park of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Fields was taken into custody soon afterward.
The hearing came soon after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the attack met the legal standard for an act of domestic terrorism. Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," the attorney general called the car rampage, which injured 19 other people, an "unequivocally and unacceptable evil attack."
(Cloud reported from Charlottesville and King from Washington.)
