Judge Blum denies retrial in Mavrick Fisher murder case, dismisses deadlocked charges

JOEY BAER:

Today is Friday, December 11. Behind me is where Mavrick Fisher has been staying in jail all this time. We are now on our way to the courthouse. The District Attorney Susan Krones will appear opposite the defense and announce if she wants a retrial or drop it and allow the involuntary manslaughter charge to stand. Let’s find out.

[Video clip showing Mavrick Fisher in a jail jumpsuit, chained, walking into a courtroom. He sits down in the jury box].

BAER:

This has lasted for three months. The trial lasted for three weeks. It cost approximately more than $100,00 in expenses. DA Krones approached the court first. She said she wanted a trial again for voluntary manslaughter. It was previously said that it wasn’t possible after an involuntary conviction, but Krones argued that it was possible. She said she did her research on previous cases and couldn’t find a precedent, but she felt there was more evidence that she could examine further, and possibly find some new evidence. She said Grant Whitaker’s family was grieving and was not satisfied and wanted a retrial.

[Video clip from court livestream]

INTERPRETER (FOR DA KRONES):

This killing was brutal. Grant was brutally killed. Grant has many family members who are grieving about his death so this case is not to be taken lightly.

BAER:

It was the Defense Attorney Feimer’s turn and he argued that when someone is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, you couldn’t try someone again because it would be a conflict. He also said there wouldn’t be any new evidence. He said a lot of time was given to the other side for them to go through everything and they were very thorough, so to do everything again would be fruitless.

[Video clip from court livestream]

INTERPRETER (FOR MR. FEIMER)

It doesn’t make any sense. The jury has decided on involuntary manslaughter. It’s done for. Sometimes we need to accept the jury’s decision. What did they decide? That (Mavrick) is guilty of involuntary manslaughter. And with that you can’t charge him with voluntary manslaughter because it would be a contradiction.

BAER:

Judge Blum considered the arguments. He was a former prosecutor. He explained things in a very thorough way. He agreed with DA Krones in that there were no other similar cases. He explained that Dr. Omalu, who is the forensic pathologist who is extremely well respected — he, on behalf of DA Krones, explained everything, but it failed to convince the jury that (Mavrick) had an intent to kill. The judge said it was inconclusive. Judge Blum said he felt Mavrick’s testimony was credible because he shared everything without being evasive, for many hours on the stand. Judge Blum said all of this added up to his decision to dismiss the two charges that ended in a mistrial. Judge Blum said he predicted that if there was a retrial, there might be a very small increase in the sentence and it didn’t justify all the expenses and the risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic. It was just not worth it, so the charges were dismissed.

[Video clip from court livestream]

INTERPRETER (FOR JUDGE BLUM):

The district attorney cannot hold a retrial for voluntary manslaughter, because the verdict was made for involuntary manslaughter. If it was a deadlocked jury, then my decision would be different. I’m dismissing the voluntary manslaughter charge and assault with a deadly weapon.

BAER:

The last thing was to schedule a Monday, December 21st sentencing hearing. The parties’ families or friends will provide testimonies on behalf of the defense or the prosecutor. After this, the judge will issue the sentence.

After everything ended, as I went out of the courtroom, I saw Mavrick walking up. He looked very happy and he said, “FREE.”

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JACOB BAER (off screen):

Just wanted to ask you how you felt about how everything went today, if you were disappointed, or there was anything you felt like you wish had gone differently.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY SUSAN KRONES:

Well, obviously, I was requesting to be able to retry the voluntary manslaughter, but I know that there were legal issues that were involved. And as the judge said, there was nothing on point, specifically in the case, to say that the voluntary manslaughter was prohibited. However, under the judge's legal reasoning, I do... He researched it as well, and he made his finding. And obviously, I think he's been a judge for a long time. He was a former prosecutor. And I'm sure he definitely had a good legal basis for his finding, which I don't dispute that obviously. In his ruling on the 1385, which is in the interest of justice, obviously I would like to retry the case. But he made his ruling and I understand and accept his findings in his legal judgment. So although I am disappointed, I'm going to prepare for the sentencing to present everything I can in regards to a just sentence in this case for Grant, to the extent possible.

JACOB BAER (off screen):

I'm sure you're happy with how it went today… But we just wanted to get you to elaborate your thoughts on how the proceeding went.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY THOMAS FEIMER:

Well, again, it went about as well as we could have expected it to. As I think you heard, my position is, is that, first of all, it's not legally possible to retry Mr. Fisher on involuntary manslaughter or voluntary manslaughter at this point and the court agreed with that assessment. Additionally, there will be no retrial on the deadlock charge. Again, while it's not surprising totally, I think the court made the right decision. You heard it was a very thorough and well thought out decision, which I commend the court for. Mr. Fisher is obviously quite relieved to not have to go through another trial.

JACOB BAER:

Yeah. Then, obviously, we have the sentencing coming up on the 21st. We're just wondering what your plans are for that as much as you're able to disclose.

FEIMER:

Candidly, having been more focused on this point, I can't give you a lot of specifics other than, as all sentencings we will be presenting the court has a range of options to sentence Mr. Fisher to. We will be presenting evidence in the form of witnesses and letters, as we can get to show factors about him that show he is deserving of a more lenient sentence. Then, obviously, Mr. Whitaker's family and the prosecution will have an opportunity to be there and be heard as well. I think you heard right now, given the situation, it's a little tenuous as to how much of this will actually happen here, how much of it will happen online, on Zoom, but again, now that we're only looking at involuntary really the range of Mr. Fisher's exposure is not quite as great so it narrows the outcomes more than if we had had a retrial. Still, we want obviously to put forward to the court as much that shows him in as best a light as possible.

To watch the livestream video of today’s hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJhQgFuamI8&feature=youtu.be