Jury exonerates Wilkerson in Fielder death

Crystal Brown

cbrown@weatherforddemocrat.com

A jury of seven men and five women found Robert Ernest Wilkerson, 33, of Granbury, not guilty Wednesday afternoon on two charges linking him to the Jan. 8, 2007 death of Willie “B.B.” Fielder IV.

Fielder, a Weatherford High School running back, died two days after an accident on South Main Street when his vehicle was struck in the driver side door by Rodney Swindle, 49. Swindle pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to six months in jail, 10 years of probation, a $2,000 fine and 300 hours of community service by District Judge Graham Quisenberry.

Wilkerson was charged with one count of failing to render aid and one count of racing on a highway. Quisenberry also presided over Wilkerson’s hearing this week.

Tuesday, District Attorney Don Schnebly and Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain presented their case, which included testimony by Stacy Owens, a witness to the accident; Weatherford Police officers John Wright and Travis Johnson; Tim Lovett, a vehicle accident reconstructionist; and Clayton Wood, who had conversations with Wilkerson about the accident.

Defense attorney Shay Isham called Swindle to the stand Tuesday afternoon and concluded his case Wednesday morning by calling Wilkerson to testify. Isham said putting Wilkerson on the stand was a joint decision.

“I try a lot of felony criminal cases and don’t normally put the defendant on the stand,” Isham said. “In this case, Rob felt like it was an absolute necessity and he wanted to get up there, it was cathartic for him to get up there and tell his side of the story. This has really been traumatic for him over the last two years and caused him a lot of emotional trauma. He wanted to get up there and look Mr. Fielder in the eye and tell him what he thought happened and tell him how sorry he was.”

In his testimony, Wilkerson said he was behind Swindle when he approached the light at South Main Street and College Park. The right lane was empty so he moved over with the intention of passing him as they drove up the hill before the two-lane road bottlenecks down. He said Swindle accelerated in an attempt to keep him from passing, but once the lanes began to merge he was able to move into the left lane ahead of Swindle.

At that point, Wilkerson said Swindle stayed on his bumper and honked his horn. In the next instant, Wilkerson said the white sedan driven by Fielder turned left onto Main Street in an attempt to head north. He said he made eye contact with Fielder who nodded in apology for pulling out in front of him. Wilkerson said he slowed down and passed Fielder on the right hand side.

“I had plenty of time to slow down,” he said.

As he passed, he heard a loud crash, which he found out later was Swindle’s vehicle crashing into Fielder’s. He said he did not see the accident occur, but the next day saw accounts of it on television and in the newspaper, and that police were looking for a third car involved.

“I didn’t realize the severity [of the accident] until I saw it on the news the next day,” Wilkerson said.

He said he thought Fielder would recover and tell authorities he was not involved in the accident and everything would be cleared up. Once Wilkerson heard Fielder had died from injuries sustained in the accident, he said he immediately called the Weatherford Police Department and went to the station to give them information. Once at the station, the police checked his vehicle which had no damage to it and told him to go home, according to Wilkerson’s testimony.

After telling them details he knew of the accident, the police took him to an interrogation room to tape his statements. The recording was presented to the jury Tuesday. In the video, Wilkerson tells the police he failed to stop and render aid.

“When your defendant’s statement uses the legal terms of art, the language they used to charge him with in the indictment, you’ve just got to explain that,” Isham said. “That’s why he took the stand, to explain why he would say that. It makes sense. The police are telling you that’s what you did, the paper is writing that’s what you’re charged with. It starts to stick with you.”

In his closing argument, Isham argued even if the jury felt Wilkerson failed to stop and render aid, he had the “defense of necessity.”

Isham read in the charge where the requirement to stop and render aid can be bypassed if the person feels they would be in danger to do so. Isham said Wilkerson was in fear of a confrontation with Swindle if he stopped at the scene and it was probably in the best interest of the emergency workers for him not to return.

He also addressed the charge of racing on a highway, which includes wording that racing includes accelerating to pass or overtake a vehicle.

“You’ve got to grasp hold of the spirit of the law,” Isham told the jury. “Is it racing every time you merge on a bottleneck lane and move over and prevent someone from passing you? That is not the spirit of the law.”

In his closing argument, Schnebly said the incident was a classic case of road rage where neither would relent and the two drivers were “engaged” from the time the light turned green until the accident.

Testimony from officers and accident experts during the trial included data from Swindle’s “black box” in his pickup. According to data from the black box, Swindle was traveling 62 miles per hour the second prior to impact with Fielder’s car. The speed limit in that zone is 35 mph. The black box also shows Swindle was accelerating at 100 percent for the five seconds prior to the impact, and the brake lights of his pickup were on in the last two seconds prior to impact.

Schnebly argued if Swindle’s vehicle was traveling in excess of 60 mph, then Wilkerson had to be traveling that speed or greater to stay ahead of him.

“The tragic part is that if either one of these guys had backed off, slowed down ... ” Schnebly said trailing off. “But it was the defendant who had the obligation to yield.”

Isham argued there is a difference between negligence and criminal conduct.

“We’ve all made judgement calls at one point or another,” Isham said. “Criminal conduct requires you to have some sort of criminal intent. Rob just wanted to get home. He wanted to get away from the road rage. He didn’t intend to participate in any kind of race. He didn’t intend to cut that guy off.”

Swain told the jury Wilkerson didn’t need hindsight to know the accident was bad and should stop.

“He told you on the witness stand he knew it was going to be a T-bone and he was right there,” Swain said. “On the video, before he was charged, he knew what happened. Now he is unclear.”

Before the jury left for deliberation, Isham reminded them it is the burden of the state to prove Wilkerson’s guilt and said they were asking the jury to make a big leap from the evidence presented.

“There is nothing more tragic than the loss of a kid, and I understand when there is the loss of a kid a lot of times there has to be someone’s head put on a spear, or at least a lot of folks feel that pressure,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s right. That doesn’t mean it’s just. I’m here to tell you there are circumstances that happen in this world that are just tragic accidents, and this is one of them.”

Fielder’s father, Willie Fielder III, sat in on the hearing. He said he wasn’t there to see about the punishment of Wilkerson, but for him to realize what he had taken from the Fielder family.

“What the jury decides today, I’m willing to accept,” he said. “Because right now, it’s God’s law I’m worried about not man’s law. Man’s law will never give us back our son. We will continue to move on and try to heal.”