A jury has found Damian Fields, now 28 years old, not guilty of complicity in all potential charges in the 2022 shooting death of John Leak Jr.
Following a 5-day trial and after deliberating for almost 5 hours, the jury determined that Fields was not guilty of complicity to murder, second-degree manslaughter, or reckless homicide. The jury had to reach a unanimous verdict.
Defense Attorney Leigh Jackson said that while her team was phenomenal in putting in the hours of work to the case, the real work was accomplished by the jury.
“The jury did the hard work, they were attentive, they listened and they weighed all the evidence correctly,” she said. “We feel they made the right call.”
Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Kuegel said that he put and his team put forth a case with the evidence and the police and others involved did a very thorough investigation. However, he echoed some of the sentiments from Jackson.
“[The jury] heard all the evidence, they returned the verdict, and as in all jury trials I always respect the verdict of the jury,” Kuegel said.
Fields and Derrick Carroll, now 30, were both indicted for murder on August 3, 2022, following a lengthy investigation by Owensboro Police Department. They are being tried separately, and no trial date has been set for Carroll.
According to a release, at approximately 11:08 p.m. on June 13, OPD responded to the 1200 block of West 7th Street for a possible vehicle collision with injuries where a building had been struck. When officers arrived, a bystander was performing CPR on an adult male — later identified as Leak — who had been driving the vehicle.
As officers began assisting with medical care, they discovered Leak had a single gunshot wound. He was transported via ambulance to Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
According to OPD, detectives believe Leak was shot in the 900 block of West 7th Street and that after being shot he attempted to drive away before striking a residence.
For Fields to have been found guilty, per instructions given by Judge Lisa Jones, the jury had to find the following to be true:
- Complicity to murder: The jury had to believe Carroll killed Leak by shooting him with a handgun and prior to the killing, Fields aided or tempted to aid or engaged in a conspiracy with Carroll to confront Leak with the handgun. In so doing, Fields either intended that Leak would be killed, or he was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that Leak would be killed and that his disregard of said risk constituted a gross deviation from a standard of care that a reasonable person would have observed in the same situation which created a great risk of death to Leak which ultimately led to the death of Leak.
- Complicity to second-degree manslaughter: The jury had to believe that Carroll killed Leak by shooting him with a handgun, that prior to the killing Fields aided, attempted to aid or engaged in conspiracy with Carroll to confront Leak with a handgun and that in doing so, Fields consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that Leak would be killed and that his disregard of said risk constituted a gross deviation from a standard of care that a reasonable person would have observed in the same situation.
- Complicity to reckless homicide: The jury had to believe Carroll shot Leak with a handgun, that prior to the killing Fields aided, attempted to aid or engaged in conspiracy with Carroll to confront Leak with a handgun and in so doing, Fields failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that Leak would be killed and his failure perceive that risk constituted a gross deviation from a standard of care that a reasonable person would have observed in the same situation.
