(Image source from: Reuters)

A 21-year-old man of Ohio accused of killing a woman and wounding many after plowing his car into a group protesting a white nationalist rally in Virginia earlier this year pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charge on Thursday, according to prosecutors.

The proceeding in Charlottesville, Virginia was the first time James Alex Fields Jr. appeared in the tribunal to face the charges, for which he could face the death penalty if condemned. Fields also face separate state murder charges in Virginia.

Fields lawyer Fred Heblich declined to comment on the hearing before Judge Joel Hoppe in the federal courthouse in Charlottesville. Brian McGinn, the spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office in the Western District of Virginia, said Fields pleaded not guilty to all 30 charges and gave no further statements about the plea.

Hundreds of people come down on the college town of Charlottesville in August 2017 to protest the removal of a statue honoring a commander of the Confederate Army, the losing side of the United States Civil War, in what was billed as a Unite the Right rally.

Counter-protesters turned out to demonstrate against the rally and there were clashes between both sides. Fields charged with driving his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of people.

U.S. President Donald Trump was criticized across the political scope when he said subsequently that both sides were to blame for the hostility.

Fields on a regular basis touted racist ideologies on his social media accounts, including expressing support for Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, according to the indictment.

Fields has been charged with one count of hate crime act resulting in death, 28 counts of hate crimes for causing physical harm and pertaining an effort to kill, and one count of racially actuated ferocious intervention with a federally protected activity.

If condemned of a hate crime act resulting in death, Fields may face the death penalty, although it is not unsubtle whether prosecutors plan to seek capital punishment.

By Sowmya Sangam