Sentencing will take place Wednesday for Richard (Ricky) Oldfield on charges of Battery With a Deadly Weapon. Oldfield pled guilty to the charges that stemmed from an incident that occurred in April of 2005.

John Watson, attorney for Oldfield, stated that he believed his client got a “bad rap” in a recent newspaper article, published October 17 in the Osgood Journal. The article dealt with the testimony of the East Central High School Principal, Donel Criswell and the Dearborn County Educators’ Association, who wrote a letter to Prosecutor Ric Hertel outlining their concerns about the situation. They believe there is a safety issue with Oldfield continuing to attend East Central High School.
Watson says there is more to the story and believes there are mitigating factors the judge should consider before sentencing his client. In a Sentencing Memorandum, Watson noted that the crime was the result of circumstances unlikely to recur.

Watson said that while his client does have a delinquency history, what he was charged with was “relatively minor.” He says Oldfield has completed his obligations to probation and “has not been in trouble for some time prior to this incident.” Defense went on to say that Oldfield is willing to make restitution to the victims. He asked the court to weigh out the mitigating factors in the case when handing down the sentence.

Watson said he believes his client has had an unfortunate set of circumstances that led to his behavior the night of the stabbing incident. He doesn’t feel Oldfield is a threat to society and would benefit from probation instead of having to serve jail time for the crimes.
Judge Carl Taul will make the ultimate decision this Wednesday.