Rep. Fields Pleads Guilty / Not Guilty / Guilty

Badger Blogger is holding Rep. Fields’ feet to the fire and getting results!

A few days ago, BadgerBlogger e-mailed Fields for comment after we learned that he had apparently had a brief “change of heart” since his charges for operating while intoxicated last month. For the record, Fields had a BAC of 0.13 on his breath test, well over the legal limit.

You’ll recall that, in the days following his arrest, Fields put out a very contrite press release, offering sincere apologies for the incident, stating succinctly, “There is no excuse for driving impaired, I am thankful that no one was hurt. I accept full responsibility for my actions and I ask my constituents for forgiveness for my error.”

A few days ago, BadgerBlogger reported that Fields had recently retained colorful local attorney Alan D. Eisenberg and had entered a plea of “not guilty” to the charges, paid his jury trial fees, and scheduled a pre-trial conference for the middle of next month.

Fields wrote me back yesterday, indicating that he was planning to plead guilty to the charges all along, that he had informed his attorney of these plans, and “hadn’t received anything that goes against those instructions” from his attorney.

I wrote back, asking him, if that were in fact the case… Why plead “not guilty” in your initial appearance, pay the jury fees in two separate charges, and schedule a date for a pre-trial conference in mid-May?

Fields replied by e-mail: “Bruce, I will be advising my attorney to change the plea and pay the fines. I thank you for contacting me. I simply wanted to handle this situation as accurately as possible, that is why I had a lawyer. Again, I will be changing the plea and paying the fines. Thanks“.

All correspondence took place with Fields using his state issued, “legis.wisconsin.gov” e-mail address, and is a matter of public record.