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Ron Fields - politics or vengeance?

Friday, Apr 8, 2005
By Jack Moseley
I would sooner believe Mother Teresa was an ax murderer than think Ron Fields could be guilty of using and trafficking in illegal drugs. No, not this longtime Arkansas prosecutor (18 consecutive years, re-elected eight times), former acting state attorney general and longtime associate and friend of Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson with whom he worked in both the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.
I've never known a more straight-arrow fellow than Fields. And the idea of him ordering a police officer to kill a missing woman in Fort Smith to keep her quiet about his alleged drug activities is even more ridiculous.
Still, Fields has been on administrative leave since last fall from his post in the Department of Homeland Security while the FBI investigates an anonymous letter to the DEA. His security clearance has been suspended as a result of the ongoing probe by the FBI.
"I understand that things like this have to be investigated, and I've tried my best to cooperate," Fields told me, indicating that the probe of his activities in Arkansas has dragged on long enough. His cooperation even has gone so far as permitting the inspection of his body for needle marks and scars that were never there.
Additionally, he authorized investigators to have access to the results of blood tests made during three separate hospital stays in Fort Smith. All those hospitalizations were unscheduled and provided no time for someone to clear drugs from his system.
All this smells like a vengeful witch hunt to me. Was it triggered by some political enemy who hates Fields? Or could it have originated with someone he sent to prison? Regardless, I suspect the man's life has been turned into a living hell. It's time for the feds, who have hauled witnesses before a grand jury in Washington instead of Arkansas, to put up or shut up and clear Fields' name and reputation.
Anyone who has followed Fields' career knows he hates illegal drugs, particularly cocaine, meth and crank that his nameless, faceless accuser claimed he used. Indeed, he helped write laws that required longer prison sentences in this state for abusers of those very drugs. As head of the 12th Judicial Drug Task Force in western Arkansas, Fields established one of the most successful records in the war on drugs. He pioneered improved enforcement techniques that assured more convictions of drug offenders.
It was Fields who first required prosecutors or their deputies - rather than police - to secure search warrants in drug cases. Fields or one of his deputies personally went on almost every local drug raid in order to guarantee that evidence was properly gathered, protected and kept for use in criminal trials. Other prosecutors soon adopted Fields' techniques and the conviction rate in Arkansas went up significantly.
Because of his long, unblemished record, then-Gov. Bill Clinton appointed Fields acting attorney general for the state in the wake of a scandal that forced the resignation of Attorney General Steve Clark in 1990.
This simply doesn't sound like the record of a man who is mixed up with illegal drugs and orders the execution of someone who allegedly had information that could be used against him.
No one knows what happened to Lori Murchison in 1995 after she was released from the Sebastian County jail. She disappeared without picking up a paycheck from her employer and without posting bail for a friend who was still in jail. At that time, Fields was recovering from eye surgery and was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the prosecutor's office.
Eddie Christian Sr., Fields' Fort Smith attorney, has said FBI agents have been misled by "totally unreliable sources." "They're absolutely nuts," declared the defense lawyer.
Unless they can produce some creditable evidence, the FBI should clear Fields of all accusations against him, restore his security clearance and let him return to doing something he has done faithfully and honorably throughout his adult life - serving his country in the heat of combat, serving his state and nation in the best interest of the people of Arkansas and America.
Life, luck and -30-.