BELLEVILLE – With the second trial of murder suspect David Fields set to start Dec. 3, his lawyers proposed a plan to prevent a second mistrial.
On Nov. 16, Brittany Kimble and David Neal moved to exclude testimony about Fields’ alleged conversation with victim Carl Silas a day before the murder.
Kimble wrote that Fields allegedly indicated he wanted Silas to help him get a gun so he could rob someone.
She wrote that Fields allegedly told Silas he wanted to shoot someone in the face, but the court had already ruled that the state could not bring up Fields asking for a gun or possessing one the day before.
“It is clear from the mistrial that the state’s witnesses cannot discuss the robbery conversation without bringing up the fact that Mr. Fields asked for a gun or had a gun the day before the shooting," she wrote.
“The defense objected several times to the line of questioning that would ultimately end Mr. Fields’ first trial in a mistrial.”
Kimble wrote that state’s witness Latrisha Traylor indicated that Fields wasn’t even at her house when the conversation allegedly took place.
She wrote that people who would testify about the conversation weren’t part of it and allegedly overheard it from another part of the house.
“Being able to mention part of the conversation but not the actions that followed the alleged conversation is misleading to the jury," she wrote.
“Mentioning part of the conversation without being able to mention what Mr. Silas said and did pursuant to the conversation is misleading to the jury.
"Mr. Fields is already prejudiced by having to be retried because the state’s witness discussed things that were deemed inadmissible.”
She wrote that she couldn’t cross examine witnesses without fear that they would testify about inadmissible things.
“It can be foreseen that when the defense asks a question about the conversation on cross examination and the witnesses go into inadmissible territory, the argument will be that the defense opened the door.”
Silas died on Dec. 30, 2016.
After being identified as the shooter by witnesses, Fields turned himself in at St. Clair County jail later that day.
Investigators tried to connect the crime to Circuit Judge Ron Duebbert, but grand jurors rejected a charge that he obstructed the investigation.
Circuit Judge Robert Haida brought Fields to trial in July.
Witness Michael Taylor mentioned a gun.
Kimble moved for mistrial and Haida granted it.
At a hearing in September, Kimble argued that prosecutor Charles Colburn intentionally goaded the defense into calling for a mistrial by asking a witness a question that was barred from evidence and said the mistake should prevent the State from retrying Fields. Haida denied the move.