Remorseful Louisa man to serve 12 months for fatal hit-and-run from 18 years ago

LOUISA — Choked by emotion, Brandon L. Fields tried to read his apology to the family of a man he struck and killed on a dark February night in 1994 and to his own wife and child for actions that, 18 years later, will take him away from them for a year in jail.

“I was young. I was scared. That’s no excuse: I was wrong,” he told the family of the late John M. Banks, the court and his family on Wednesday. “I hope that what I do now is a step in the right direction.”

Fields, 37, accepted a 12-month jail sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to misdemeanor hit-and-run for the death of Banks, then 34 years old, who had fallen from his moped on a slippery two-lane road and lay sprawled across the traffic lanes late at night.

According to accounts of the event presented in Louisa County Circuit Court, Banks was riding east on Route 22 almost a mile west of U.S. 33 when he lost control and crashed. He wound up in the road where he was struck by Fields, who was driving with some friends in a small pickup with a low center of gravity, returning home from picking up stereo speakers.

Fields, 18 at the time, stopped farther down the road to inspect the truck for damage but saw none. Unsure of what he had struck, he turned around and headed back to the scene where others had stopped around Banks’ body. Fields panicked and left the scene.

Fields turned himself into police in September 2010 after Virginia State Police investigators and members of Banks family made a plea in the news media for information about Banks’ death and an anonymous tipster reached out to police.

“Today the justice system has finally held Brandon Fields accountable for his actions,” said Rusty McGuire, Louisa County commonwealth’s attorney. “For 18 years, Mr. Fields has lived with the guilt of what he had done and the Banks family had to live with not knowing if someone had murdered their loved one or if it was an accident.”

McGuire said the $6,000 funeral expenses at the time nearly broke the Bankses and that the family could not afford a tombstone at Banks’ grave. He noted that Fields has already paid the Banks family restitution for the funeral, paid for a tombstone to be placed at Banks’ grave and agreed as part of the sentence to place flowers on Banks’ grave every year on the anniversary of the death.

Fields has a clean criminal record, is married, employed and has a family, McGuire also noted.

“No one wanted to see Mr. Fields not able to provide for his family,” McGuire said of the negotiated plea, “but there also had to be some punishment.”

Banks’ fiancé, mother and two daughters agreed to the plea bargain. The family told reporters that they were never sure whether Banks had been knocked off the moped by a drunk driver, run off the road on purpose or if the death was an accident.

“We aren’t looking for anyone to blame,” daughter Kendra Banks said. “For 17 years, we’d walk into a store and look at people and wonder if they had killed our father or why it happened. It’s very hard to lose your father and your best friend when you are young and not know why.”

Kendra Banks said the family met with McGuire to negotiate the plea agreement, but never met with Fields.

“We sat and listened to the situation and what the judge would likely do and what the lawyers had to say and then we made our decision,” she said. “We didn’t want to have any hard feelings. It would have been hard to meet face-to-face.”

Judge Timothy K. Sanner agreed to the misdemeanor plea and the year-long sentence — the maximum allowed under the charge — and noted that had Fields told officers that night about what happened he would likely have not faced charges.

“Like many 18-year-olds, you made a poor decision in unusual circumstances,” Sanner said. “You are not the same person you were at 18 years old. You have lived a life free of criminal behavior; you have a good job and a family. To volunteer to pay for the funeral, the grave marker and to visit the grave every year is certainly an indication of the type of person you are now.”

Sanner then gave Fields a chance to address the court. With tears in his eyes and voice, at times fighting sobs, he apologized to the Banks family and his own. He also apologized to all whom he believed he had let down by his actions, many of whom had crowded into the Louisa County courthouse for the hearing, most of whom shed tears with him.

“I apologize to my wife and family,” he said. “The stress has certainly taken a toll on her and the publicity and humiliation in public — all my fault — and her concern has been for the welfare of our son. I am so sorry.”