Murder or suicide?

◼ Route 299 murder suspect set for trial in August; case likely to lean heavily on evidence gathered from getaway car
The trial of a man accused of killing a marijuana robbery accomplice during a high speed chase on State Route 299 last year is likely to hinge on detailed forensic evidence gathered from the getaway car.

Brian Cole Fiore of Antioch faces a variety of charges, including the murder of his alleged accomplice David Fields, armed robbery, felony evading a peace officer, transporting marijuana, illegally possessing an assault weapon, resisting arrest and the attempted murder of five peace officers. Fiore has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and is set to go to trial on Aug. 23.

Prosecutors allege that Fiore shot Fields in the head just before the Jeep Cherokee that Fiore was driving plummeted off a cliff on Route 299 on May 11, 2009.

The pair were allegedly running from officers after robbing three men of 14 pounds of marijuana in McKinleyville at gunpoint. Officers responding to the scene chased the Jeep for 20 miles up Route 299, while the suspects reportedly shot at pursuing law enforcement vehicles. The Jeep went over a spike strip outside of Willow Creek and plunged 130 feet off the road into a ravine.

Fiore shortly came up the hill with a gunshot wound to his head, telling officers that he'd tried to kill himself, according to court documents. Fields was found dead feet away from the vehicle, with a gunshot wound to his head.

In recent court documents, public defender Jonathan McCrone, representing Fiore, said that forensic scientist John Jacobsen had examined the Jeep and found what he believed to be brain matter in the back seat of the car. McCrone wrote that the presence of the material suggests that his client couldn't have shot Fields. Fields was shot in the left temple, and the bullet exited the right temple, McCrone wrote. Fiore would “have to be a contortionist to achieve this” McCrone wrote of the brain matter in the back seat.

”The trajectory of the bullet which killed David Fields is critical to the determination of whether this is a murder or a suicide,” McCrone wrote.

19 year old (alleged) drug runner arrested

◼ Surviving suspect from police chase identified
A 19-year-old man from Antioch who survived an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head was arrested at a Sacramento hospital Monday for his alleged involvement in an armed marijuana robbery May 11 that ended with the death of his apparent associate David Fields.

Brian Cole Fiore was arrested at 5:15 p.m. Monday and booked into the Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, negligent discharge of a firearm and evading a peace officer with wanton disregard for safety, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported.

According to HCSO information, Fiore will be transported to the Humboldt County jail, but it is uncertain when.

Following an autopsy conducted over the weekend, investigators believe Fields, 21, was shot shortly before the vehicle he was riding in flipped over an embankment along the roadside, and rolled to a stop 130 feet down into the ravine below.

Investigators know Field's death was caused by a gunshot wound, said Deputy Coroner Charlie VanBuskirk, but are uncertain whether death was a homicide, a suicide or an accident.

Fields' mother, Shirley Stephens, identified her son's body at the Humboldt County Coroner's Office the day after the shooting. Fields, who was right-handed, was shot in the left temple, she said....