Detective Karl Fields' missteps may mar murder case (updated)

Updated story

This story was updated at 12:52 p.m. with a history of allegations against Karl Fields.

photo Chattanooga Police Department detective Karl Fields

Karl Fields - a history of allegations

2006: Fields crashes his personal car while off duty. He first tells investigators he was carjacked before eventually admitting he was intoxicated. He pleads guilty to DUI and receives a 14-day unpaid suspension from CPD.2012: A defense attorney questions Fields' police work during a murder trial after audio files of interviews Fields conducted were lost somewhere between Fields and the evidence collection officer. Fields said he turned them over; the collection officer said he never got them.2013: A defense attorney for a murder defendant accuses Fields of coaching a witness to lie about what she saw. The attorney claims Fields showed the witness a photo line-up and when she failed to identify the defendant as the suspect, he showed her another set of photos that were all of only the defendant.August 2014: A defense attorney for a man charged with attempted murder says Fields and other investigators failed to test all the guns found at the crime scene for fingerprints and ballistics. The attorney argues that the charges against his client should therefore be dropped.October 7, 2014: A defense attorney for a man charged with attempted murder says Fields and other investigators failed to test all the guns found at the crime scene for fingerprints and ballistics. The attorney argues that the charges against his client should therefore be dropped.October 13, 2014: An alleged rape victim says Fields, while handling her case, harassed her and propositioned her for a sexual relationship. Fields' behavior ranged from kissing and fondling to explicit texts and stalking. The woman is now suing the city.October 15, 2014: The owner of El Meson Restaurante in Hixson says Fields lied about after-hours gambling and stripping at the restaurant. At the time the restaurant had no violations with the Chattanooga Beer Board.Source: Times Free Press archives

As the saga of embattled Chattanooga police officer Karl Fields wears on, questions remain for the pending cases the longtime detective helped bring to court.

Take, for instance, the murder case of Cordalro Strickland.

On Monday, Strickland's attorney Brandy Spurgin filed two more motions to dismiss his case, citing Fields' handling of the investigation and his attorney's statements that Fields likely will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights when asked any questions about his investigative work.

Strickland is charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in connection with the July 2011 death of Melvin Fennell.

In the motion, Spurgin says Fields "failed to follow crime scene procedures, coached a prosecution witness after her preliminary testimony, failed to provide witness information from witnesses who had exculpatory information and may have improperly conducted photographic lineups."

According to the motion, Fields' attorney, W. Gerald Tidwell Jr., has advised him not to speak on the stand because issues relating to his credibility and questions about pending internal affairs and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probes into his actions could arise.

"If that happens, my argument would be that I am allowed to go into that because it deals with Fields' credibility, and [if he doesn't take the stand] then it's a violation of my client's right to confront witnesses against him," Spurgin said.

Tidwell did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney General Cameron Williams followed up with a motion to exclude the details of Fields' TBI investigation, the civil lawsuit recently filed by the rape victim he is accused of treating inappropriately and the Internal Affairs investigation pending against him from the Strickland proceedings.

Fields was expected to appear in court Monday to testify at a hearing on those motions. He told the court he wasn't aware he was expected to appear. Spurgin said she issued the summons in the same way she normally does for officers asked to appear in court.

The detective is on administrative leave pending the result of a TBI criminal inquiry into his conduct during a rape case earlier this year.

The victim in that case alleges that, among other inappropriate behavior, Fields sent her text messages asking for sex, told her he watched a video of her rape while masturbating and kissed her in a bathroom at El Meson Mexican restaurant. The victim filed a civil lawsuit last week against Fields, the Chattanooga Police Department, Chief Fred Fletcher and the city.

Strickland's case is not the first in which Fields has been accused of coaching witnesses and mishandling evidence. Defense attorneys in at least three other cases have called his investigative work into question.

Other motions to dismiss filed by Spurgin question Fields' handling of the Strickland case. The allegation that Fields failed to provide witness information stems from interviews that he and investigator Ernest Fielden performed after Fennell's death. Witnesses gave a description of the shooter, but did not want to provide names and so weren't identified in the investigators' reports, according to Spurgin's motions.

One motion to dismiss centers on the state's alleged failure to preserve dispatch recordings with witness names, and a second filed two weeks ago places the blame on Fields and Fielden for their failure to record them in the first place. Spurgin says that, without the witness's name, Strickland can't provide evidence to dispute what they said and will receive a fundamentally unfair trial.

Judge Don Poole reset Wednesday's hearing for Friday. Fields is expected to appear in court then.

Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at (423) 757-6347 or cwiseman@timesfreepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.

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