CLEARFIELD – The case against a DuBois man accused of killing his girlfriend was discussed Monday in Clearfield County Court.
Joseph Robert Fields, 36, 109 E. Scribner Ave., DuBois, an inmate of the jail, is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and murder of the first degree in connection to an incident in DuBois during the early morning hours of Sept. 22.
An open 911 call led police to the East Scribner Avenue address where they found a woman whose throat had been slashed and a young boy covered in blood.
Fields was later taken into custody after a manhunt that lasted about 15 hours, according to previous reports.
An attorney for Fields filed a motion to suppress the statement Fields gave police after he was taken to the state police barracks. The claim is that he had not eaten or slept for several hours and was not able to take his regular medication during the time he was on the run. Therefore, he was not fully aware of what he was doing when he signed a waiver of his rights and spoke to police.
Fields himself testified to his activity the day before the assault. He said he got home sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 21. He ate half a hoagie and later took his medication. He said he fell asleep on the chair and later woke after about three hours of sleep.
After he fled his home, Fields said he drove around and blacked out several times. Once he woke to find himself near Brookville, another time in the parking lot of a hospital and another at Wal-Mart. He said he remembered driving to Corsica but not driving back.
When his attorney, Mike Marshall, asked him if he slept during this period, Fields replied no, but repeated that he would wake up at various places. Once he “came to” and found himself in the middle of the road.
Fields testified that he takes an anti-psychotic medication, drugs for anxiety and another prescription because he is bi-polar.
He explained that he was in the woods in Penfield near the victim’s mother’s home when he got a message from his aunt. This is when he first learned the victim had passed away. He then went to her mother’s house where he was apprehended. Fields claimed he didn’t expect the victim to be dead and hearing that “messed me up.”
Fields was able to recall being taken to the police station and being interviewed by the troopers there. He also admitted he did remember signing the waiver of his rights form although he said he wasn’t sure what it meant. He was not able to fully recall being read his rights. Again he said he was in shock after hearing of the victim’s death and was “out of it.”
During cross examination by District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr., Fields stated the medications “keep me mellow.” Without it he becomes, “edgy” and would fight a lot, he said.
Shaw asked if he hallucinates or hears voices, to which Fields replied “no.”
As to why Fields thinks his statement should be suppressed, Fields said it was because he doesn’t remember most of what he said because he was in shock.
Shaw also questioned why after 15 hours he was in shock about what happened to the victim. Fields repeated that he didn’t know she was dead before his aunt told him, just moments before he was taken into custody. He agreed he saw the victim at their house, and she was bleeding, but he said he blacked out there, too.
Trooper David Ray of the Pennsylvania State Police testified that he transported Fields to the police barracks. He described Fields as “very calm.” At the station, they did offer him food and drink. Fields was given something to drink, he said.
Fields appeared to understand his rights and the waiver form prior to signing it. Ray said he didn’t have any concerns of Fields’ mental state and he seemed normal.
According to Ray’s testimony at the preliminary hearing, Fields told him that the couple argued because she “pushed his buttons” and he stabbed her in the chest. She wanted to call her mother to say good-bye so he handed her the phone. This led to another verbal altercation and he stabbed her in the neck. When the police pulled up outside, he told the boy to let the police in, and then he ran out the back door.
A copy of the waiver of rights form was entered into evidence.
Judge Fredric J. Ammerman gave the commonwealth and the defense 30 days to file briefs on this issue. After that each side will have 14 days to respond.
Currently this case is scheduled for jury selection on April 21.
According to other testimony at the preliminary hearing, Anthony Assalone, 34 of DuBois said he was awakened at about 2:50 a.m. that morning by a phone call from Fields. Fields told him to call the victim’s mother to ask her to pick up the victim’s child. Fields said she tried to kill herself and blood was everywhere. Assalone ended the call and then called the victim’s mother. Meanwhile, Assalone’s fiancée, Barbara Wilcox, went to the victim’s nearby residence where she spoke with police.
Assalone said while he was speaking with Wilcox once she was on the scene, she was also talking to Cpl. Randy Young of the DuBois City police. He then spoke with Young on the phone and gave him Fields’ phone number.
Young testified that when he and other officers arrived at the East Scribner Avenue residence, he saw a young boy holding onto a dog. Both of them had blood on them. He asked the boy if he was okay, and the boy said “he killed Mommy.”
When he went inside he saw the victim who was still alive but bleeding all over. She pointed in the direction of the back of the residence, which he took to mean that someone had gone out the back door.
The residence was searched but no one else was found. Young helped secure the residence and spoke to neighbors who said they didn’t hear anything.
Young was able to contact Fields on the phone. When Young asked Fields what was going on, Fields said he did nothing wrong and indicated that the victim had tried to kill herself. Young told him he needed to speak more with him to get his side of the story. Fields explained he was driving around on back roads and that he was an hour away.
Fields would not tell Young where he was even though Young spoke to him multiple times. Fields said he was driving around trying to clear his mind and he did nothing to the victim, Young testified.
At one point, Fields said he “just wanted to lay down and die.” He also mentioned he had taken medication that was making him very tired.
During the last call, Young asked Fields to meet him somewhere but the phone went dead and from then on the calls went straight to his voice mail.
The affidavit of probable cause contains information that family members had received calls from Fields, who said the victim had slit her own throat. He told them he fled the scene because he “looked guilty.”
Trooper John Eisman of the Pennsylvania State Police testified in the preliminary hearing regarding the capture of Fields in Penfield. He said they received a call that Fields was at a residence that was only a short distance away from where Eisman was searching for him.
He and other officers raced to that home where they saw Fields outside, smoking a cigarette. Eisman described him as “unkempt and dirty” with dried blood on his clothes. He had socks on, but no shoes. Fields was ordered to get on his knees and he complied.
The knife and a sheath were recovered from that scene. Both items had dried blood on them.
Mike Morris, coroner for Clearfield County, testified that when he arrived, the victim was lying on the floor. She has suffered multiple injuries, some of which were on her hands. An autopsy revealed her cause of death was a laceration of the right jugular vein and the manner of her death was homicide.
Under cross examination by Marshall, Morris explained the wounds on the victim’s hands were defensive wounds. Marshall then asked if it was possible these wounds were self inflicted. He said it was possible but unlikely because the wounds were so deep. He stated that if the victim cut one hand so deeply, it would then be difficult to cut the other one in the same way because of the first injury.