Henry Co. man accused of stabbing cat

HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. — A man already convicted of stabbing someone to death has been arrested again, this time authorities say for stabbing his roommate’s cat.

Tracy Lax says he was sitting at home Monday afternoon watching TV when his roommate, James Robert Fields, walked into his bedroom claiming to have killed Morganta, Lax’s cat.

James Robert Fields

“He come back in there and says well I made sure she is done now so he took a steak knife and stabbed it through her back,” Lax said.

Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew said his investigators arrived on the scene to find the cat barely alive.

“Mr. Fields was extremely intoxicated he believed that the cat had scratched him, so at that time he took a steak knife and stabbed the cat multiple times,” Sheriff Belew said.

The sheriff said Fields was released last May after serving time for stabbing a man to death in May of 2010. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and served five years of his 11-year sentence.

“Obviously he has gotten into drinking again, and at his level of intoxication that led him to another bad decision and he stabbed a cat,” the sheriff said.

Morganta was taken to the Animal Doctor in Paris where Dr. Michael Boley performed emergency surgery Monday night. Boley said the cat was stabbed around four to six times.

“She is such a fighter. A lot of animals would have not survived this, but there is something special about her that makes her — she is not going to give up,” Boley said.

Lax said he has been roommates with Fields for about a month and that they have become good friends. He said he never expected anything like this to happen.

“They’re like one of your kids, you know? Jim, he’s, you know, I considered him a good friend, you know. I really did. And it’s just really ripping me apart,” Lax said. “Hopefully we can get him the help he needs and she is going to be OK.”

Sheriff Belew said Fields will appear in court Wednesday morning on an aggravated animal cruelty charge, which is a felony.

Lax said he and Dr. Boley hope to bring Morganta home by Friday.