PORT ANGELES — A five-day trial for a Port Townsend man accused of second-degree murder has been continued to late January.
The trial for Aaron C. Fisher, 37, was set to begin on Dec. 15 after it was reset following a change in legal representation for Fisher. However, Fisher’s new attorney, Lane Wolfley, said during a status hearing on Dec. 5 that it was appropriate with the recent changes to request a continuance.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin and Judge Brent Basden offered no objection.
The trial now is expected to begin on Jan. 26.
A review hearing was set for 1 p.m. Jan. 9 along with a compliance date for the trial witness list and other necessary documents.
“(The date is) reasonable,” Basden said. “This is a complicated case … and gives us a little bit of time to make sure the investigation is complete.”
Fisher is accused of causing the death of Richard G. Madeo, 70, of Sequim after he allegedly punched him in the face on May 6 and knocked him unconscious in the driveway near a fuel station. Madeo died two days later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to court documents.
Fisher originally was charged with second-degree assault and released from jail on May 9 as the investigation into Madeo’s death was completed, Devlin said. He was arrested on July 23 in SeaTac and charged with second-degree murder on Aug. 1.
Fisher has pleaded not guilty and faces up to life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. His bail has been set at $150,000.
On Nov. 21, Basden asked Wolfley if the Dec. 15 trial date was realistic. Wolfley said while he was new to the case, he approaches things more optimistically than he should and that he’d know just prior to the Dec. 5 hearing if a short continuance was needed.
Wolfley said then that he’d need a new investigator for the defense.
He was appointed to represent Fisher for the second-degree murder charge after Fisher’s original lawyer, Alex Stalker, cited in October that the Clallam County Public Defender’s Office had a conflict with a person related to another criminal case during which Fisher allegedly communicated with a minor for immoral purposes.
Wolfley now represents Fisher in that case. He was charged in September with one count each of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first and second degrees.
Originally, attorney William Payne was appointed to represent Fisher, but he too cited a conflict due to representing another complicated case.
The second case will trail the second-degree murder charge, so no trial date has been set.
Fisher pleaded not guilty on Oct. 24 to the two charges in the second case.
A no-contact order was set by Judge Elizabeth Stanley between Fisher and the girl, and for him not to go within 1,000 feet of her for five years.
________
Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
