Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070413 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: DATELINE: GLOUCESTER LENGTH: Short
Retired Circuit Court Judge Henry L. Lam ruled after a special hearing Wednesday that Fisher's April trial must be limited to second-degree murder. Lam ruled that the 38-year-old archaeologist was found innocent of first-degree, or premeditated, murder in his first trial last fall, even though that proceeding ended in a mistrial.
Commonwealth's Attorney William H. Shaw III maintained that the judge who presided over the first trial had nullified the jury's verdict in declaring a mistrial.
Retired Judge Morris B. Gutterman declared the mistrial because he believed a televised interview with an alternate juror dismissed from the case could have influenced the jury.
- Associated Press
by CNB