Cleared of murder less than a year ago, Fields now faces new charge in Madison County
A man who was acquitted of murder after a St. Clair County trial last year now faces a trial in Madison County on new charges.
David E. Fields, 23, was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a weapon and one count of resisting arrest on Aug. 5 following an incident in Collinsville on July 31. He pleaded not guilty to those charges on Thursday afternoon.
According to Collinsville police records from that night, someone reported three men pulling on car door handles in the area of 1600 Golfview. Police said they spotted the three men, who then fled on foot, but later apprehended them.
In a police report, Officer Sam Luna states that he saw Fields with a black backpack when he tried to stop the men originally, but before they got away. After reviewing dashboard camera footage, Luna states that “there appeared to be a bulge of some type of object in the lower right hand corner of the backpack as I saw Fields walk away from me, however I could not at the time determine what that object was.”
In a supplemental police report, Officer Scott Pritchett indicates that a man in the neighborhood the men fled from found a backpack in his outdoor recycling bin with an AK-47 rifle inside.
Fields was acquitted of two first-degree murder charges in St. Clair County in December. He had been charged in the shooting death of Carl Silas on Dec. 30, 2016, at a Belleville apartment at 2913 West Blvd.
After Fields’ first trial on the charges ended in a mistrial because a witness gave testimony about a gun that Judge Bob Haida ruled was inadmissible, Fields went through a second trial. After 9 hours of deliberation, that jury determined that he was not guilty.
Belleville police had alleged that Fields and another person had broken into the apartment while Silas, his two children and the children’s mother, Jamie Lott, were home. Lott testified at Fields’ trial that he and another person came into the apartment with a long rifle, looking for drugs and money before they shot Silas in the face.
Lott, who said she is Fields’ cousin, testified that the shooter was dressed in all black and his face was covered with a black, nylon ski mask. She said she recognized him as Fields by his eyes and his voice.
Fields, who has a violent criminal record, also had been a roommate of Circuit Judge Ron Duebbert in the judge’s west Belleville home for some period of time.
After the murder charge was filed against Fields, Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson removed Duebbert from hearing cases and reassigned him to other judicial matters. Duebbert has said he was only trying to help Fields turn his life around by offering him a home.
Police that investigated the murder asked that charges be brought against Duebbert for obstruction for failing to tell them about alleged contact he had with Fields shortly after the killing happened, but Duebbert was never charged.
Duebbert remains on desk duty as the Illinois Judiciary Inquiry Board continues to investigate a complaint against him.
Fields’ jury trial in Madison County has been set for Sept. 9 in front of Judge Kyle Napp.
This story was originally published August 22, 2019 at 4:18 PM.