It appears the Catch & Release Program spread to Lafayette County. Seth Rokitka ran over and killed Walker Fielder in the Oxford Town Square in 2022. Although he pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI-Death and leaving the scene, such meant nothing to a Lafayette County judge who suspended Rokitka's sentence after he served a little more than a year in jail. Kill a kid, get a cookie.
The Death of Walker Fielder
The weekend of October 15 should have been a time of joy for the Fielder family as Walker reached the milestone of 21 years old. The Ole Miss junior was a resident of Madison and graduated from Jackson Academy. A close-knit family, the Fielders took their son out for dinner that evening at The Grillhouse. Walker went out to celebrate his birthday with his friends afterwards and met Blanche Williamson, a fellow student, at Harrison's.
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| Walker Fielder |
Seth Rokitka and his friend, Tristan Holland, traveled from Memphis to Oxford early that afternoon to party and party they did. Born in 1995, Rokitka is an electrician while Holland was a senior at Collierville High School in Tennessee. The police reports state Holland said Rokitka drank "a couple of beers" on the way to Oxford. The group went to Annex before winding up at Rafters around 4:30 PM. Another witness said Rokitka drank a dozen beers and several mixed drinks.
Fielder and Williamson left the bar and were sitting on a curb in the parking lot behind City Hall at 1:00 AM, October 16. Meanwhile, Rokitka and Holland got into Rokitka's truck to leave. Although Holland saw the couple on his side and yelled at his friend to stop, Rokitka proceeded to run over Williamson and Fielder. Refusing to stop, Rokitka turned right onto Jackson Avenue. Holland jumped out of the vehicle and found another way home.*
Rokitka ran over the couple, killing Fielder and severely injuring Williamson. Fielder soon died. Williamson was covered in blood when police arrived. Clumps of her hair were on the ground. The police report states her pelvic bones were broken and punctured other organs. The young woman spent several weeks in the hospital. Williamson recovered but suffered permanent injury.
Oxford police arrested Holland and charged him with accessory after the fact but later dropped the charges.
Police found Rokitka's wrecked truck on Goodman Road in Marshall County the morning of October 17. Rokitka surrendered at the Lafayette County Detention Center that morning. Unfortunately, it was more than 24 hours after he killed Fielder so there was no BAC.
A detective found an empty Jack Daniels bottle and empty beer cans in the Tundra. There was an unopened bottle of Michelob Ultra as well,. the same beer he drank at the bar.
The police charged Rokitka with aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident with death or injury.
Prosecution
A Lafayette County grand jury indicted Rokitka for aggravated assault, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of an accident on August 27, 2024, nearly two years after Fielder was killed. The case languished and Circuit Judge Kent Smith dismissed the indictment on August 25, 2025 during a change of plea hearing.
Rokitka pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI-Death and leaving the scene of an accident during the hearing. The maximum prison sentence for Aggravated DUI-Death is 25 years and between 5 and 20 years for leaving the scene of an accident. The families and friends of the victims made their feelings known to the Court through letters and verbal statements.
Judge Smith sentenced Rokitka to 10 years in prison for leaving the scene of an accident and 5 years for Aggravated DUI-Death while ordering the sentences be served consecutively. However, the Court suspended all five years of the aggravated DUI-Death sentence. Thus Rokitka would be eligible for release upon serving 25% of the sentence. The Court gave the defendant credit for time served in jail (nine months) but more importantly, retained a three-year right of review for the case.
Rokitka started serving his prison sentence in the Lafayette County Detention Center.
Catch & Release
Since the defendant pleaded guilty, he could not appeal his sentence or file a motion for reconsideration of the conviction. However, Rokitka's attorney, Kevin Horan, filed a request for jurisdictional review on February 12, 2026.
Horan is the Chairman of the House Judiciary "B" Committee and a veteran criminal defense attorney. Although he practices in Grenada, he is well-known in the Lafayette County Circuit Courts as he represented high-profile clients such as Sheldon Harrington in the Jamie Lee Murder case.
The two-page motion used only one sentence to justify the request:
While Defendant has been in custody, he has been a model inmate and has become well regarded by prison staff for his job performance at the facility.
Horan asked the Court to modify, reconsider, or reduce the sentence to the "extent the best interests of justice would be served."
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| Seth Rokitka |
Assistant Distract Attorney Honey Usry opposed the motion.
1. The Defendant was sentenced for the crime of Aggravated DUI – Death and was given five (5) years, with five (5) years suspended and zero (0) years to serve to run consecutive to his sentence for Leaving the Scene of an Accident. This time on the Aggravated DUI-Death would start AFTER the Defendant served a sentence of ten (10) years for Leaving the Scene of an Accident. 2. The crime of Leaving the Scene of an Accident resulted in delayed treatment to the victims in this cause, Walker Fielder, who succumbed to his injuries, and Blanche Williamson. This sentence was to be served in the custody of the Department of Corrections. This judgment and sentence were more than fair given the circumstances of this case. 3. The Defendant has served a mere five (5) months since the day of his sentence on August 26, 2025, all at the Lafayette County Detention Center. Even with the time the Defendant would be credited with from his time from arrest to conviction, the Defendant has not served even twenty-five (25) percent of the time for which he was sentenced. 4. Given that there was a death, that of Walker Fielder, in this case the State objects to any modification, reconsideration and/or reduction of the sentence.
Judge Smith held a hearing in March in New Albany with the victims' families present. There was no notice of the hearing in the court docket. The hearing lasted all of ten minutes.
Freedom
The Court took it all under advisement before Judge Smith patted Rokitka on the head, told him he was a good boy, and set him free.
The Court has considered Mr. Rokitka's Request to Exercise Jurisdictional Right of Review and determined that he is worthy of reconsideration by this Honorable Court. From his arrest on October 17, 2022, until the entry of this Order, the total time served by Mr. Rokitka is approaching two years. Accordingly, the Court finds that Mr. Rokitka should be resentenced in light of his continued rehabilitation and his institutional conduct, education, and treatment.
What, pray tell, was the resentencing?
On the charge of Leaving the Scene of an Accident, Seth Garron Rokitka is sentenced to serve a term of ten (10) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. However, this sentence shall be reduced to time served, with the balance of the sentence being suspended conditioned upon his future good behavior. Mr. Rokitka shall be immediately released from custody and placed on five (5) years of post-release supervision - reporting....
Fortunately, Rokitka does not completely escape punishment. Judge Smith sentenced the killer to serve 50 hours of community service at where else but the Lafayette County Sheriff's office.
You read that correctly. Seth Rokitka gets drunk, runs over two kids, killing one and maiming the other for life. The case takes years to prosecute. The judge gives the Rokitka no time for killing Walker Fielder. A few months later, Judge Smith turns him loose. Justice for all.
The only question is did Judge Smith give Seth Rokitka a cookie?
* The police report provides a timeline based on security camera video.
Kingfish note: Once again, the Oxford Police did its job only to get backstabbed by the Lafayette County criminal justice system.
4 comments:
This will only encourage others to do the same thing. The judge seems to care more about the rights of criminals over the victims rights. Soft liberal judge encourages criminals
A thief who harmed no one gets more prison time than someone who took a life
Someone wearing black robes got his palms greased big time. Prove me wrong.
The judges must be held accountable for their judgements that affect society. We're dealing with an issue now where the other parent is letting a 14yo drink and host parties with text and photos as current evidence. A good lawyer said, more evidence is needed for any judge to make a decision, um what? So now we hire a PI and work with the attorney to get the best evidence needed to protect the child from the father and their selves. The judicial system is antiquated and complacent. So, if anything happens with this child in the future, it's on the judge, the father and anyone else complicit in providing delinquency because we're doing all we can under the current laws to prevent them from becoming like their father and a dredge on society.
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