More than 18 years after Javad Marshall-Fields was killed, his mother, state Sen. Rhonda Fields, said she is still waiting for the fight for justice to end. 

Marshall-Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, were murdered in Aurora in 2005. The two 22-year-olds were fatally shot days before Marshall-Fields was scheduled to testify as a witness to the 2004 slaying of Gregory Vann. Vann’s killer, Sir Mario Owens, and Robert Ray were subsequently convicted in Marshall-Fields’ and Wolfe’s deaths in 2008.

Now, Owens is once again appealing his conviction. The Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments for his requested retrial on Tuesday. 

“All these years later, I’m still trying to seek justice on behalf of my son and his fiancée. It’s painful,” Fields, D-Aurora, said. “I just have to deal with it and let the system play out. But it’s not fair for me as a victim. He gets to play these games at the expense of re-traumatizing our family.”

This is not the first time Owens has fought his conviction. In 2017, an Arapahoe County judge denied Owens’ request for a new trial over unfounded claims of an incompetent legal team and biased juror. Fields testified against that appeal. Two years ago, the state’s Court of Appeals also rejected Owens’ claims from his previous trial, where he was convicted of Vann’s killing.

But Owens’ new appeal is extraordinary in multiple ways. The state’s highest court chose to review Owens’ trial directly, without any prior decision from the state’s appellate courts and 15 years after the jury rendered its verdict. Tuesday’s oral arguments also lasted two hours – double the typical length.

This time around, Owens is arguing that Arapahoe County prosecutors removed two Black jurors back-to-back because of their race, and that gratuitous and inflammatory evidence prejudiced the jury against Owens.

The court will likely release its decision late this year or early next year. 

“I’m confident that this will be rejected. This is a desperate plea to reverse the decision,” Fields said. “He murdered my son and his fiancée because he was trying to get away with murder, and he’s still trying to get away with murder through every legal maneuver he can.” 

Even outside of the appeals, the murders of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe have been repeatedly dragged back into the public sphere over the years. 

Owens and Ray were initially sentenced to death for the murders. But in 2020, the Colorado legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty – a move Fields fought against. On the same day that Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law to apply to future crimes, he also issued an executive order commuting the men’s sentences to life in prison, saving them from death row. 

Just one year ago, a man convicted as an accessory in Marshall-Fields’ and Wolfe’s murders, Percy Carter, was released from jail without notification of the victims’ families. Fields was later granted a restraining order against Carter. 

“It’s absolutely fatiguing, it’s draining, it’s stressful,” Fields said. “This is going to be an ongoing battle. It’s a lifetime battle. When you’re dealing with grief and loss, it never ends. This is just a part of the enduring journey of criminal justice and the loss of a loved one due to gun violence.” 

Fields entered politics in response to her son’s murder. Since she was elected to the state legislature in 2010, she’s passed laws intended to combat gun violence and improve community safety. This year, she sponsored legislation to ban ghost guns, notify victims before parolees are discharged and protect the identities of minors who witness or are victims to crimes. 

Now, as a potential retrial looms, Fields is preparing to leave state office. She is term limited in 2024 and launched her campaign to be an Arapahoe County commissioner. 

But Fields said it doesn’t matter what office she holds, the “constant gnawing pain” of her son’s death will stay with her and continue to motivate her actions every day, she said.  

“It doesn’t matter what platform I have, what title I’m given. Who I am and the kinds of things I’ll champion will not change. And that won’t change because I love my son,” Fields said. “That’s what got me into this line of public service and that will continue no matter where I am.” 

Reporter Michael Karlik contributed to this story.