GARY COLEMAN ASSAULT TRIAL
				Background Feb. 3 Update Feb. 4 Update

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Court TV) — Facing her alleged attacker for the first time since their initial encounter last July, a California woman who says Gary Coleman assaulted her after she asked for an autograph told jurors that the former "Diff'rent Strokes" star humiliated her, and maintained she just wants a "normal life" again.

Prosecutors say that on July 30, 1998, Coleman punched Tracey Fields in the face at a uniform store after she had asked him for a personalized autograph. Coleman claims that Fields was aggressive and rude to him and initiated the attack. The 4-foot, 8 inch, 86-pound former child star, now 30, says he swung at the 5-foot, six-inch, 205-pound Fields in self-defense.

Fields testified that she was shopping at the California Uniform Shop in Hawthorne, Calif. when she Coleman and recognized him. Admitting that she was excited to see him, Fields said she approached Coleman and asked him for an autograph. Coleman signed his name on a green piece of paper. Then, Fields said, she asked Coleman if he could he personalize the autograph and make it out to her son.

That, Fields claimed, is when Coleman became annoyed. She testified that he snatched and ripped up the initial autograph, telling her, "It's not worth anything. You can't get anything for it. I'm not working right now." Coleman, Fields said, then threw the ripped-up autograph in the trash.

"I told him he had a 'bad-ass' attitude," Fields said. "Then he said something about how he hated black people....I told him, 'Your attitude is probably why you didn't succeed as an adult actor.'"

Upon hearing that remark, Fields testified, Coleman surprised her by suddenly punching her in the right eye and knocking her down. Insisting that she did not see the punch coming, Fields said Coleman then proceeded to swarm her with body shots. Fields tried to shield herself from the alleged onslaught with her pocketbook.

"I was in shock...I couldn't believe it," Fields told jurors. "That's when I defended myself."

Fields testified that she pushed Coleman off her and into a nearby counter when she regained some composure. A bystander in the store, Emily Waters, then came between Coleman and Fields and broke up the fracas. Fields called police soon afterwards and was treated at a nearby hospital for a swollen and slightly bruised right eye. She said the ordeal caused a migraine headache.

Noting that she filed a civil suit against Coleman less than 24 hours after the incident, Coleman's lawyer have suggested that Fields wanted to make a profit off the defendant's fame and intentionally provoked him. During direct examination, Fields admitted that she met with an attorney, Robert MacNeil, to discuss a possible suit. She insisted it was MacNeil's idea, not hers, to file the suit. Fields claimed that she and MacNeil never discussed the damages she would seek from Coleman in their initial meeting on July 31.

Fields admitted that she held a press conference a few days after the incident and appeared on "Extra," "Leeza," and "The Mother Love Show" upon MacNeil's insistence, but she pointed out that she was never paid for those appearances. Fields said that she has never spoken to tabloid papers about the case because she wants to try to return to a life of normalcy.

"He humiliated me," Fields said. "I'm a simple person who works everyday. He dragged me into the spotlight when I didn't want to be in it. I just want to lead a normal life again."

However, during cross-examination defense attorney Adam London pointed out to Fields that Coleman never made her appear on the talk shows or hold a press conference announcing her civil suit. Stressing that Fields is seeking $1.25 million in her civil suit, London suggested that she has a financial stake in the outcome of Coleman's criminal trial.

Noting the considerable difference in height and weight between Fields and his client, London asked the alleged victim if she feared Coleman at the time of the incident.

"Yes," Fields said. "He went off on me....I feared his rage."

Under cross-examination, Fields also had to defend a conversation she had with eyewitness Waters the day after her encounter with Coleman. Waters and Fields were not friends prior to the altercation, and Coleman's defense suggested that it was unusual for Fields to seek comfort from a mere acquaintance. Fields insisted that she just told Waters how she was feeling after the incident and did not ask Waters, a former police officer, to help her with the criminal and civil cases.

Waters testified that she voluntarily gave Fields her phone number and told her to contact her if she needed her help. However, Waters added, she and Fields did not discuss the civil suit during their first conversation after the incident. Waters told jurors that Coleman was the aggressor in the fight with Fields and that she had no doubt that the former star threw the first punch.

Coleman's defense is expected to file a motion for direct acquittal when court resumes on Thursday. If convicted of battery, Coleman could face up to six months in prison.

Reported by Court TV's Bryan Robinson.