After a full day of jury selection, a trial began Wednesday for Damian Fields, one of two men charged with murder for a 2022 shooting death. Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Kuegel presented the order of the alleged events, while Defense Attorney Leigh Jackson asked the jury to differentiate circumstantial evidence versus concrete evidence.
Editor’s Note: Owensboro Times is providing a summary of the opening statements, which present a look into how each side will approach the case — including what will be presented as evidence, who will be called to the stand, and how the prosecution and defense teams interpret the facts. Though the attorneys will attempt back up their statements with experts and witnesses throughout the trial, the statements themselves can not be considered evidence by the jury.
Fields, now 28, and Derrick Carroll, now 30, were both indicted for murder in August 2022 following the death of John Leak Jr. on June 13, 2022. They are being tried separately, and no trial date has been set for Carroll.
Fields’ trial kicked off with an opening statement from Kuegel, who said he will try to keep the order of witnesses as chronological as possible. He noted that the jury would hear from police officers and a friend of victim John Leak and several other experts.
The jury will also be viewing the murder of John Leak on June 13, 2022, he said.
“This is where things take a different direction. That is when there are videos that are recovered from different locations — and we have those … it’s going to be up to you to make the determination as far as what’s contained in the videos,” Kuegel said.
Kuegel said that some videos that will be shown will be clear, while others will be less so. However, it is evidence that the jury will need to utilize to make a decision on the case, he said.
Kuegel said his team also has fingerprint data that places Fields in a stolen vehicle that was said to be located near the scene, along with cell phone records that place Fields near the shooting alongside Carroll.
During Jackson’s opening statement, she said Fields is charged with murder by complicity — meaning aiding in a murder. She said that the videos, while enhanced, are “grainy.”
“That video is still black and white and still grainy, so you all will have to make the decision who you believe those two individuals in that video are,” she said.
Jackson noted none of the footage shows a license plate on the vehicle Fields was alleged to be driving. She said there will also be testimony where a detective did not believe it could’ve been Fields who committed the murder.
Before ending, she asked the jury to see and understand the difference between concrete and circumstantial evidence.
“So pay close attention to the evidence [Kuegel] presents and what is concrete and what was circumstantial when weighing the evidence,” she said.
