Oklahoma executes Bobby Joe Fields for 1993 slaying of 77-year-old woman

Thursday, February 13th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ Bobby Joe Fields died Thursday for the 1993 fatal shooting of a 77-year-old Oklahoma City woman, executed despite a clemency recommendation from the state parole board.

Fields died at 6:05 p.m., three minutes after receiving a lethal dose of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for killing Louise J. Schem during a burglary March 2, 1993.

Fields smiled at his sister, Geraldine Banks, and his cousin, then told his two attorneys witnessing the execution to ``stay strong. You all keep fighting.

``Cousin, if you can, try to look after my boy,'' Fields said of his estranged son during his final statement. Then to Banks: ``Baby girl, stay strong and hold the family together. I love you all.''

Banks wept and buried her face into her handkerchief as Fields' eyes slowly closed and his head jerked slightly before he became still.

No one on Schem's behalf watched Fields, 39, become the second inmate executed in Oklahoma this year and the 140th in the state's history.

Fields' execution came despite the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board's Jan. 6 recommendation that his sentence be commuted to life in prison _ just the board's fifth clemency recommendation since 1995.

Gov. Brad Henry, in his first death penalty review, denied clemency. Fields was originally to be executed Jan. 13, but former Gov. Frank Keating issued a 30-day reprieve to give Henry time to consider the clemency recommendation.

``Bobby Joe Fields was properly convicted and sentenced,'' Attorney General Drew Edmondson said. ``His appeals have been exhausted and the governor has rightfully denied clemency. It is time the execution is carried out.''

Fields' attorneys argued during the clemency hearing that Fields should be spared because he had no advance intention of killing Schem. The board voted 3-1 in favor of clemency, with one abstention.

``I understand how the governor has made his decision, but my initial review was that that was not his (Fields') intent, to cause bodily harm,'' said parole board chairwoman Stephanie Chappelle, who voted for clemency.

But parole board member Susan Bussey, who voted against clemency, said there was nothing presented during the hearing that warranted commuting Fields' sentence.

After a night of drinking and using cocaine, Fields broke into Schem's Oklahoma City house to steal her television, when she walked in with a gun, court records say. Fields and Schem scuffled over the weapon, spilling out onto the sidewalk where Fields shot Schem in the back of the neck as she tried to flee, records say.

Fields and his first attorney, a public defender, expected an Oklahoma County judge to give him life in prison without parole when he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1994. But Judge James L. Gullett ordered capital punishment after the sentencing hearing.

The attorney, Catherine Burton, who's now in private practice, was too upset about Fields' execution to comment, her secretary said.

Fields dined on $15 worth of fried catfish with hot sauce just before 1 p.m. Thursday as he waited for his execution. The state limits final meals to $15.

Daniel Juan Revilla, 34, of Altus, was executed Jan. 16 for the 1986 death of his girlfriend's baby. Execution dates have been set this year for six more inmates.