THUMB AWARD KID GLOVE TREATMENT

Thumbs Down to state District Judge Michael Keasler for his lenient sentencing of City Councilman Paul Fielding’s brother, who pleaded guilty last January 9 to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Keasler sentenced B. Donald Fielding, 32, to 10 years deferred adjudication, a sentence that does not carry prison time, even though the councilman’s brother has pleaded guilty on two prior occasions to similar offenses. Ironically, Keasler is a former Dallas County assistant district attorney known as a judge who doles out tough sentences. Court records show that Don Fielding was sentenced to 10 years probation in 1979 and 1981 on felony charges of cocaine delivery. The most recent charges against the councilman’s brother stemmed from two arrests, one in October 1984 and the other in November, in which police confiscated more than 9 ounces of cocaine. “All of this publicity is just an attempt to discredit Councilman Fielding about a drug case that doesn’t even concern him,” says Ed Gray, Don Fielding’s attorney.