A Hale County grand jury has indicted Charles “C.J.” Wilson Jr., 33, on a murder charge in the July 4 stabbing death of Don Cornelius Fields near the Sawyerville post office. The indictment, returned during the grand jury’s September term, moves the case from district to circuit court.
According to the original complaint filed in July, investigators say an argument that began on Topaz Road escalated when Wilson produced a knife and stabbed Fields in the chest. Fields was driven to Hale County Hospital and died shortly after arrival. Wilson was arrested the same day and charged with murder. He remains in custody.
At the same grand jury session, prosecutors also obtained indictments in a previously unresolved case from 2018. In that case, Wilson is charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, seconddegree assault for allegedly shooting an adult woman, and six counts of reckless endangerment for gunfire directed toward two vehicles carrying adults and children.
The murder case was opened in circuit court under a new case number, and the 2018 charges were likewise bound over to circuit court by grand-jury true bills. Court records show the Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the cases. A circuit- court arraignment date had not been posted as of press time.
Wilson is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
