According to the lead prosecutor, the victim of the family violence assault was the seventh woman who was a crime victim of 35 year old Lonnie Fields Jr.
While the jury was considering punishment, Fields and the prosecutor agreed to a 40 year prison sentence.
Because Fields was previously convicted of family violence assault and because Fields had been to prison twice before, he could have received a life sentence. Assistant district attorney Jessica Escue tells WTAW News that she agreed to 40 years because Fields will be eligible for parole in 15 years. That’s compared with 20 years for a life sentence.
Fields also agreed to a lifetime protection order against the victim.
Escue says Fields’s other victims included a middle school aged girl who was sexually assaulted and two other girlfriends and a stranger who were assaulted.
Fields was on parole when he committed crimes against five of the seven female victims.
This is the second time Fields is going to prison for strangling a woman. He also went to prison for assaulting a peace officer.
Fields has been in jail since his arrest in November 2020, which followed a four hour standoff with College Station police.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
On July 13, 2023, Lonnie Fields, Jr. of Bryan was sentenced to 40 years in prison for Assault Family Violence with a Previous Conviction. The 361st jury convicted Fields of the same offense the day before.
The 361st jury heard evidence during trial that on November 2, 2020, the victim of the offense outcried to a friend about abuse that she had recently suffered at the hands of the defendant, her current boyfriend. The victim had visible bruising and scratch marks to her neck from the defendant strangling her, as well as bruising to her arm.
The victim’s friend called College Station Police and told them about the location of the defendant, who at the time had open warrants for Burglary of a Habitation, Assault Family Violence against a
different victim, and parole violations.
College Station Police responded to the address given by the friend. After knocking on the door, the defendant attempted to flee from police, before engaging in a standoff that lasted several hours. During the standoff, the defendant sent text messages to the victim apologizing for the assault.
During the punishment phase of trial, jurors heard that the defendant had previously admitted his guilt to Sexual Assault of a Child. In this incident, Bryan Police tracked the defendant to a local motel after a middle schooler was reported as a runaway by her parents. Inside the motel room, police found condoms, evidence of narcotics sales, and the middle schooler with visible injuries.
The defendant’s criminal history also includes prison sentences for multiple assaults against women, as well as an assault against a sheriff’s deputy in the Brazos County Jail.
Interventions in the defendant’s life through both the juvenile and adult probation systems proved ineffective, with the defendant continuing to assault and harm others while on both probations.
While on parole from his last prison sentence, the defendant assaulted and stalked multiple ex-girlfriends, terrorized and assaulted their friends and neighbors, and groped a college student after following her and her friends home from Northgate.
Assistant district attorneys Jessica Escue and Anjelica Harris issued the following statement: “Fields has a history of violent behavior, both with those closest to him and with strangers. This sentence ensures the safety of the victims and the community at large. Repeated and violent behavior cannot and will not be tolerated in Brazos County.”