Karl Fields testifies during a hearing for Cordalro Strickland in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom in Chattanooga on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2014.Though embattled Chattanooga police detective Karl Fields’ career still hangs in the balance, questions about his conduct already have affected the high-profile cases he worked as a lead investigator.
On Monday, prosecutors said Fields’ status was considered before the state offered Cordalro Strickland a second-degree murder plea agreement with a sentence of 15 years, less than a third of what he could have served if convicted.
“I think if it had not been for what was going on with Fields, we probably would not have been in that ballpark,” Strickland’s attorney, Brandy Spurgin, said.
Friday will mark three months since District Attorney General Neal Pinkston asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into Fields’ alleged misconduct with a rape victim this summer. The woman claimed Fields sent her inappropriate text messages, showed up at her house at night and asked her to have sex with him while he was the lead investigator on her rape case.
Fields is on administrative leave. The TBI’s investigation remains ongoing, as does the Chattanooga Police Department’s internal affairs investigation.