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

NOTE: The following report contains graphic language that may be disturbing to some readers.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Court TV) — Although he testified that he struck an angry autograph-seeking fan out of fear and in self-defense, Gary Coleman pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace just after closing arguments in his assault trial.

Prosecutors claimed 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, however, said that Fields was aggressive and rude to him and initiated the attack. The 4-foot, eight-inch, 86-pound former child star, now 30, testified Thursday that he was shocked by Field's rudeness and that he hit the 5-foot, six-inch, 205-pound busdriver because he feared she was going to hurt him.

But that defense evaporated shortly before jury instructions. With his attorney Adam London clutching him on the shoulder, Coleman blew his nose as he received a 90-day suspended sentence, a $400 fine and a $1,180 penalty assessment fee. He was also ordered by Commissioner Ulysses Burns to take 52 anger management classes, which he would have to complete by Jan. 26, 2000. Originally charged with battery, Coleman could have faced up to six months in prison.

On Wednesday, Fields testified that she politely asked Coleman for an autograph and that he was rude to her. But during Thursday's testimony, Coleman told jurors a different story. The former child star said he was shopping at the California Uniform Shop in Hawthorne, Calif. for a bulletproof vest when he encountered Fields. Contradicting her version of the incident, Coleman claimed that Fields loudly shouted, "Can I have your autograph?"

Gary Coleman describes the demeanor of his accuser before the alleged assault. (3:45)

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Coleman claimed that Fields shouted so loud it sent a chill up his spine. While he thought Fields was rude and abrasive, which bothered him, Coleman said, he still gave her an autograph. As he walked away, Coleman said, Fields hollered, "Ain't you gonna put something nice on it?" Coleman admitted that he was a bit annoyed and taken aback by Fields' persistence and rudeness.

"I thought, 'That's really rude. I didn't like that,'" Coleman said. "But I didn't think anything of it. I told her, 'You really don't need that. You're just going to show it off to your friends. That's really my signature'"

Coleman claimed Fields became irritated at his refusal to personalize the autograph. He said Fields told him he was a "rude badass." Coleman described Fields as being "very attitudinal" and having a "me-first, I'm-one-of your-fans attitude, as if I'm supposed to kowtow to her."

Coleman said he responded by telling Fields she herself was rude. Fields then told him that his "badass attitude" was the reason that he has never been a success as an adult actor, he said.

"She made sure that everyone in the store heard her," Coleman said. "It was hurtful. I thought to myself, 'This can't be happening...this can't be happening.' So I decided she didn't need an autograph. I felt she didn't deserve it."

At that point, Coleman said, he took the autograph, ripped it up and threw it in a trash basket. That was when the argument really became heated, he testified.

"She said to me, 'Well, you're just a little punk-ass bitch!'" Coleman told jurors. "I told her she was really rude, to which she said, 'Well, fuck you! I'm not going to watch you on television anymore!' And I said, 'No, fuck you, lady!"

Coleman testified that in retrospect, he should have left the store at that moment. He sensed things were getting out of hand between him and Fields and felt his angry, much larger fan getting closer to him. This, Coleman claimed, made him nervous.

"She was getting scary. The hair on my neck was beginning to stand on its end," Coleman insisted. "She's a very large, buxom woman in my face....Her breasts were practically hitting me in the head. I'm 4-foot, 8 inches, 86 pounds of nothing."

"I was getting scared, and she was getting ugly," he recalled. "The volume at which she was shouting...she was shaking the ceiling tops."

Coleman testified that he wanted to leave the store but realized that Fields was blocking his path. She was so mad, Coleman said, he felt like she was going to hit him. So, he admitted, he hit her, thinking the punch would be enough to distract her so he could escape.

During cross-examination, Coleman maintained that Fields made him nervous and that he remembered the events of the day accurately. He said that Fields and previous witness and eyewitness, Emily Waters, were erroneous in their recollection of the incident and insisted that he felt Fields was going to strike him first. Waters and another state witness, Mahogoney Speed, a cashier at the uniform store, testified that Coleman, not Fields, initiated the fight. Coleman admitted he was in a hurry when he entered the uniform store, but maintained that he was not agitated before the incident.

Fields still has a $1.25 civil suit pending against Coleman. During the trial, the defense, noting that she filed a civil suit only 24 hours after the altercation, suggested that Fields provoked Coleman so that she could make money off Coleman's fame. Fields denied those accusations

Reported by Court TV's Bryan Robinson.

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