Day 1 Recap: Mavrick Fisher Murder Trial

CALLIE FRYE: 

Today was the first day of the trial: State of California vs Mavrick Fisher. 

I showed up an hour early before the trial started at 9:00 a.m. I was there at 8:00 a.m. There were many people present. Judge Blum, the District Attorney Susan Krones and her colleague, Thomas Feimer, Mavrick’s defense attorney, and Mavrick himself as well. There were three hearing interpreters and no Certified Deaf Interpreters. Two of the interpreters were responsible for floor proceedings and they switched with each other. The third interpreter sat between the defense attorney and Mavrick. Whenever the three talked, they would pull up a black screen to block them. I observed the jurors — there were over 12 of them seated because they had three alternates with them. When I looked at the gallery, I saw members of Grant’s family. There was a sizable group. I didn’t see any of Mavrick’s family or friends being present. Mavrick wore a mask, just like all of us. The gallery were seated six feet away from each other according to Covid-19 regulations. Mavrick had shoulder-length hair, wore a purple dress shirt and a tie, beige khakis, and formal black shoes. 

When the proceedings started, the DA made an opening statement in which she recounted the events from the beginning to the ending. She also recommended the jurors to hold Mavrick responsible for all the charges. 

[TEXT: Mavrick Fisher is charged with the following: 1) Premeditated murder of Grant Whitaker, 2) Assault with a deadly weapon with a special allegation of inflicting great bodily harm, 3) Grand theft auto]

Next was the defense attorney to make his opening statement. He described Mavrick’s life and experiences of being deaf. He said he couldn’t hear all the everyday noises out there. He described how deaf people were different. He did explain that certain charges had different meanings and expanded on that. He told the jurors to be careful to not rush to a decision but to look at things with a big picture. 

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The first witness who was called is Pam Thierry. She sat on the witness box. The DA asked who she was and what her relationship with Grant (Whitaker) was. She said that he was her grandson, she is his grandmother. Pam said she was the primary caretaker for most of his childhood and life. Pam described how she found out Grant was deaf. She said she found out when he was two. She said Grant received his early education at an oral school in St. Louis, Missouri. He later went to the Maryland School for the Deaf and then went to NTID. Pam was asked about Grant’s speaking abilities and Pam said he could speak well and clear enough that hearing people could understand him. Pam was asked about how she communicated with Grant. She said she used her voice/mouth and Grant would lipread her. She said she was not fluent in ASL. Later on, several exhibits were shown. They were pictures of a flyer of Grant as a missing person. The DA asked Pam about when she made calls about it and how often she was in touch with Grant, and how Grant typically sent her texts. Pam said Grant usually sent her texts of nature and the Earth, something that Grant loved. Pam said Grant was interested in reading, poetry, and said that Grant’s vision had to do with the Deaf community. Grant wanted to have a collective Deaf community where people relied on each other on a farming setting. That was Grant’s vision. There was an important question asked — was Grant a violent or a nonviolent person? Pam was asked whether she argued with Grant. Pam said yes, many times. Pam was asked how Grant usually reacted whenever there were conflicts. Pam said Grant would look away so he could ignore her demands. When Grant became angry, he would leave and then send texts. Pam was asked if she ever felt physically threatened and she said no, never. 

The defense attorney was asked if he had questions for Pam, and he did ask questions about Grant’s goals and whether he had a business plan, whether he had investors. Pam gave vague answers but said that Grant went to Colorado for a marijuana farm. Pam was asked if Grant consumed marijuana for his own personal use. The DA objected to it, but the judge overruled it and told Pam to please answer. Pam said yes, and explained a bit more. 

It was very cold inside the room with a temperature of 59. We were shivering. There were a couple of breaks, and it was decided by Judge Blum that because of the jurors’ health and the risk of getting a cold, he decided to stop the proceedings and continue it for Thursday morning with a 9:00 a.m. start. There was a repair person who came, but it didn’t work out. That’s why the rest of today was cancelled. 

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