BRENHAM MAN SENTENCED TO 60 YEARS IN PRISON FOR AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT

  

A Brenham man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated sexual assault.

Christopher James Fielder, 45, was sentenced by Judge Carson Campbell to a combined 200 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice late yesterday (Thursday). Fielder was convicted by a jury on August 29, 2016 of aggravated sexual assault, and three counts of assault causing bodily injury – family violence.

After a hearing, the Court pronounced the sentences of 60 years for aggravated sexual assault, the two sentences of the family violence charges, and the 20 years for the other offense will all run concurrently.

Fielder was arrested on March 15, 2015 by officers from the Brenham Police Department.  The victim in this case, known by the protective pseudonym Jane Doe, managed to break a window and escape from Fielder after being assaulted, strangled, and raped in her own home. The two had been dating on and off for a period of weeks, but on March 15, Fielder refused to let her leave her home or call the police, and continually assaulted her for hours.

He was arrested after Jane Doe made it to a neighbor’s home and called the police.  Half an hour later, Fielder was found hiding in a storage shed at a relative’s house a few blocks away from Jane Doe’s home.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Haevischer represented the State at the punishment hearing, and Arthur Washington, of Houston, represented the Defendant.  According to Haevischer, since Fielder turned 18, he has spent nearly 75% of his life in custody, on probation, or on parole, and has amassed 18 felony convictions including the 4 from August.

During closing arguments, Haevischer revisited the violent nature of the crimes saying, “We were literally minutes away from having tried a murder, and had [the victim] not escaped, I am confident that Christopher Fielder would have killed her.”  During the August trial it was presented to the jury that Fielder had told the Victim he would burn her to death, while holding a can of gasoline, as well as strangling her to unconsciousness multiple times.

After the sentence was pronounced, Haevischer commented, “200 years is not going to magically allow this victim to escape the nightmares she has endured, no sentence will.  However, she feels vindicated after having bravely come forward, knowing that her attacker will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.”   Haevischer commented on the effect of the trial, saying that “This verdict and sentence shows that neither this office, the District Court, nor this community will tolerate such acts of violence.”