Man guilty on all charges in Springfield ‘execution’ murder trial

Tacota A. Fields, 24, was sentenced to life in prison.

A 24 year old will spend at least the next three decades in prison after a jury finds him guilty in a murder trial.

Tacota A. Fields, 24, was found guilty on all charges including murder, tampering with evidence, felonious assault and other gun charges and a judge sentenced him to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after 32 years served.

“I just don’t feel like justice has been served,” Fields said to a judge.

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Fields was the man who pulled the trigger six times on the night of Aug. 8 2013, killing 21-year-old Schuyler Mollett in an alleyway behind a church on the corner of Limestone Street and Stanton Avenue.

Mollett’s family, including his mother Leslie Blevins, hugged each other and wiped tears away after they learned a killer was finally held responsible for the death.

“We will continue to pray for him and to pray for his family and to pray that he stays behind bars until the day that he dies,” Blevins said.

This trial came more than 1,000 days after Mollett was gunned down in that alleyway.

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Springfield police and prosecutors on the case called the shooting an “execution” with Mollett shot in the back at close range. He was shot as he was trying to run away, Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson said in trial.

“The defendant chases him across to this area right here and shoots him two more times. Boom boom,” Wilson said pointing to a map of the scene during trial.

The homicide case had gone cold for Springfield Police Division detectives for almost two years, until a witness stepped forward in Nov. 2015, Detective Ron Jordan said.

That witness, the ex-girlfriend of Fields, testified on the stand she was with Fields the night of the shooting, dropped him off near the church, heard the shots fired and later that night saw Fields with a gun.

The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office called 40 witnesses to the stand during the three days of testimony.

Friday morning Field’s did not take the stand in his defense and his attorney Mark Wieczorek called no other witnesses.

Wieczorek also argued no one saw Fields pull the trigger and the state’s evidence relies upon unreliable witnesses, specifically Field’s ex-girlfriend.

“I’m telling you it’s all about jealousy, anger, spite,” Wieczorek said.

Fields was also found guilty with separate shootings that left bullets lodged in a house and a church, according to court records. Wilson said the bullets matched those that killed Mollett.

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