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Thread: Robert Fisher - Pennsylvania

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    Robert Fisher - Pennsylvania


    Linda Rowden


    Robert Fisher


    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death on May 3, 1989 in Montgomery County for killing Linda Rowden on July 10, 1980 because she gave information to police that might have implicated him in the murder of a drug witness.

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    November 16, 2009

    Death row killer wants new trial

    NORRISTOWN — A Norristown man, the only person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death three times, by 36 jurors, for the same crime, claims his conviction for the 1980 killing of a Collegeville woman was based on inaccurate scientific evidence.

    Robert Fisher, currently housed at the State Correctional Facility at Graterford, has asked a judge to grant him a new trial, claiming the testimony of an FBI agent at his 1991 trial was inaccurate.

    That FBI agent, John Riley, testified that he analyzed the lead from bullet fragments found in the body of Linda Rowden and bullets taken from a box of ammunition found at an apartment where Fisher was living and concluded that the bullets and bullet fragments could have come from the same box of bullets, according to court documents.

    However, Fisher, through his lawyers, now claims that an April letter from FBI officials claims that, "Science does not support the statement that bullets, shot pellets or bullet fragments can be linked to a particular box of bullets."

    Defense lawyer Stuart B. Lev implied that prosecutors relied heavily on Riley's original testimony to win a conviction of Fisher. Lev implied that Riley's original testimony was misleading and unreliable.

    "The error arising from the admission and use of scientifically unreliable bullet lead testimony was not harmless. His testimony was anything but harmless," Lev wrote in a petition seeking a new trial for Fisher.

    Lev argued a new trial should be granted based on newly discovered evidence.

    Prosecutors are fighting the request, arguing Fisher previously raised similar allegations and that the latest allegations are "meritless." Prosecutors claim the comparative bullet lead analysis evidence was considered reliable and admissible.

    Assistant District Attorney Robert M. Falin said the recent FBI letter did not discredit Riley's testimony.

    "Agent Riley testified at great length on direct and cross-examination about comparative bullet lead analysis, and he fairly explained its limitations," Falin wrote in court papers. "That lengthy testimony was not misleading or improper."

    Furthermore, Falin maintained, Fisher's claim of "new evidence" would not have changed the outcome of the trial nor was the FBI agent's testimony the most damning evidence. Falin argued there was overwhelming evidence of Fisher's guilt, including eyewitness testimony that Fisher was the person who shot and killed the 26-year-old Rowden and Fisher's own confession to a confidante.

    President Judge Richard J. Hodgson is expected to consider Fisher's request in December.

    Fisher did raise a similar argument several years ago, claiming that a 2003 scientific study called into question the reliability of the testimony of an FBI ballistics expert at his trial. However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied that appeal.

    "Clearly, (Fisher) is unable to establish that such evidence would likely compel a different verdict," state Supreme Court Justice Max Baer wrote in an opinion dated March 30, 2005.

    Baer added that Fisher's argument that the FBI agent's testimony was critical to his conviction, "vastly overstates its importance at trial."

    Fisher, who is represented by lawyers of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, has been tried and convicted twice and sentenced to death three times for killing Rowden, his ex-girlfriend.

    Rowden was killed July 10, 1980, as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown. Fisher, a back seat passenger in the car, leaned forward and shot Rowden in the neck.

    Prosecutors contend Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could link Fisher to the 1980 murder of Nigel Anderson, a witness who had been scheduled to testify in a federal heroin case.

    Fisher, who has categorically denied any involvement in Rowden's murder, wasn't apprehended until the fall of 1987 in New York City.

    Fisher was first convicted of Rowden's murder in September 1988 and was sentenced to death. To win that conviction, prosecutors relied on Fisher's previous conviction in federal court of violating Nigel Anderson's civil rights.

    In 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned the county murder conviction after a federal judge overturned Fisher's federal civil rights conviction.

    Fisher was then retried for Rowden's murder in August 1991, convicted and sentenced to death a second time.

    However, in June 1996, the Supreme Court, while upholding the murder conviction, ruled Fisher should receive a new penalty hearing because jurors at his 1991 trial were improperly allowed to hear victim impact testimony from Rowden's mother.

    After a new penalty hearing in June 1997, Fisher was sentenced to death a third time.

    http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2009/1...v0000006814628

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    Conviction, death penalty overturned; Norristown man granted retrial in 1980 slaying

    By Carl Hessler Jr.
    The Times Herald

    NORRISTOWN — Tried and convicted twice, and the only person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death three times, Robert Fisher will return to a Montgomery County courtroom yet again to answer to charges for the same alleged crime – the 1980 murder of his ex-girlfriend in Norristown.

    A federal judge recently overturned Fisher’s 1991 first-degree murder conviction and 1997 death sentence in connection with the July 10, 1980, fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Linda Rowden, of Collegeville, as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown.

    “We’ve already begun attempting to put the case back together. A judge will have to set a trial date,” county First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. said on Thursday, reacting to the latest twist in the 40-year-old case.

    Given that decades have passed since Rowden’s death, witnesses and some of the original investigators may have since died or relocated, potentially presenting challenges for prosecutors at a retrial.

    “We’re looking into that now, the status of our witnesses,” McCann said. “If witnesses are unavailable because they’re dead or because they’re incapacitated in some fashion, their notes of testimony from the prior proceedings should be admissible.

    “Will there be obstacles, yes. But I don’t think there are going to be obstacles that we can’t overcome,” McCann added. “That being said, I think the evidence is strong. We’re going to proceed as if this is a first-degree murder case.”

    Defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, the chief homicide lawyer for the public defender’s office, was appointed by Judge Thomas C. Branca on Thursday to represent Fisher, formerly of Norristown, who is now 73 years old.

    If he’s convicted of first-degree murder a third time, Fisher will face a sentence of life imprisonment. McCann revealed prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against Fisher at the retrial.

    “I think we’re just about legally precluded from doing so by the district court’s opinion,” said McCann, who will handle the retrial with co-prosecutor Lauren Heron.

    U.S. District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter overturned Fisher’s conviction, ruling a county judge’s instruction on “reasonable doubt” and an example of the concept the judge recited during a 1991 trial was “constitutionally deficient” and “fatally flawed” and that Fisher’s lawyer should have objected to the instruction.

    Pratter wrote, “given the blatant problems with this instruction, Mr. Fisher’s counsel was ineffective for failing to object and there is a reasonable probability of a different outcome in Mr. Fisher’s guilty phase trial.”

    “Therefore, Mr. Fisher’s Constitutional rights were violated by this instruction … Mr. Fisher is entitled to a new trial,” Pratter wrote in the 63-page opinion.

    Current prosecutors conceded the reasonable doubt instruction was an incorrect statement of law but argued the instruction was cured by surrounding language, according to court papers. However, Pratter disagreed.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Pratter’s decision on Jan. 17, sending Fisher’s case back to county court for a retrial.

    Under law, prosecutors have 180 days to retry the case a third time.

    Fisher’s 1997 death sentence also was overturned with Pratter ruling the aggravating factor relied on by prosecutors at the time was improperly applied.

    During the 1997 penalty phase of Fisher’s trial, prosecutors presented one aggravating factor, contending Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could allegedly link him to the 1980 murder of a federal witness scheduled to testify in a heroin case.

    But Pratter determined the sole aggravating factor that prosecutors relied on at that time to seek the death penalty was not enacted under state law at the time of Rowden’s murder and wasn’t implemented until 1989.

    Prosecutors had argued the aggravating factor relied on in 1997 was “substantially similar” to the one available in 1980 but the federal judge disagreed, finding the aggravating factor prosecutors used was “so much broader” than the one in effect at the time of the crime.

    “This entitles Mr. Fisher to relief,” Pratter wrote, adding the use of the aggravating factor to sentence Fisher resulted in “actual prejudice” and had an “injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.”

    The federal court ruling essentially prevents prosecutors from using the previously relied upon “broader” aggravating factor to seek the death penalty a fourth time against Fisher.

    In the opinion, Pratter also suggested defense lawyers failed to investigate or expand upon Fisher’s mental health and military records to present mitigating mental health evidence to the jury.

    “The expanded record paints a compelling picture of a man with a troubled history, but it is a story that his lawyer failed to investigate. Because of this failure, there is a reasonable probability of a different result in Mr. Fisher’s sentencing proceeding if the information had been presented,” Pratter wrote, suggesting the jury might have sentenced Fisher to life without parole instead of death.

    According to court papers, Fisher had a dysfunctional childhood and at age 17, enlisted in the U.S. Army and served three years in Europe. Six months after his honorable discharge, Fisher again volunteered for the military as a U.S. Marine in combat in Vietnam, according to court papers.

    Fisher served as a rifleman in a Marine unit that later became known as “The Walking Dead” and 11 months into his service Fisher was wounded by an enemy bomb, hospitalized for head, neck, chest and arm injuries and was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries, according to court papers. A neuropsychologist opined Fisher suffered symptoms of post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Vietnam.

    Fisher’s conviction and death sentence previously were upheld by the state Supreme Court and Fisher’s appeals on the grounds his lawyers were ineffective also previously were denied by state courts.

    Fisher is currently being held at the State Correctional Institution at Greene in Greene County.

    Prosecutors alleged Rowden was killed as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown and Fisher, a back seat passenger in the car, leaned forward and shot Rowden in the neck.

    Prosecutors alleged Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could link Fisher to the 1980 murder of Nigel Anderson, a witness who had been scheduled to testify in a federal heroin case.

    Fisher, who has categorically denied any involvement in Rowden’s murder, wasn’t apprehended until the fall of 1987 in New York City.

    Fisher was first convicted of Rowden’s murder in September 1988 and was sentenced to death. To win that conviction, prosecutors relied on Fisher’s previous conviction in federal court of violating Nigel Anderson’s civil rights.

    In 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned the county murder conviction after a federal judge overturned Fisher’s federal civil rights conviction.

    Fisher was then retried for Rowden’s murder in August 1991, convicted and sentenced to death a second time.

    However, in June 1996, the state Supreme Court, while upholding the murder conviction, ruled Fisher should receive a new penalty hearing because jurors at his 1991 trial were improperly allowed to hear victim impact testimony from Rowden’s mother.

    After a new penalty hearing in June 1997, Fisher was sentenced to death a third time.

    https://www.timesherald.com/news/con...47529d1e1.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Judge sets September retrial for man accused in 1980 Norristown homicide

    By Carl Hessler Jr.
    Main Line Media

    NORRISTOWN — Tried and convicted twice, and the only person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death three times, Robert Fisher will return to a Montgomery County courtroom in September for a retrial, ordered by a federal judge, for the alleged 1980 fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend in Norristown.

    County Judge Todd D. Eisenberg set the stage for Fisher’s retrial to get underway when he recently denied a defense motion to bar the retrial on the grounds it would violate Fisher’s right to be free from double jeopardy, his rights to due process and a fair trial and his right to confront witnesses.

    Fisher, now 74, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the July 10, 1980, fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Linda Rowden, of Collegeville, as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown.

    Eisenberg said Fisher’s retrial will get underway on Sept. 20 with jury selection. The retrial is slated to last about five days.

    “The parties are directed to properly notify any necessary witnesses and to have them available to testify when needed,” Eisenberg wrote in a scheduling order.

    All jury trials were suspended in the county in March 2020 as a precaution when the coronavirus pandemic surfaced. With vaccinations increasing and the COVID-19 positivity rate decreasing in the county, judges are beginning to schedule jury trials once again.

    Given that decades have passed since Rowden’s death, witnesses and some of the original investigators may have since died or relocated, potentially presenting challenges for prosecutors at the retrial. But if witnesses are unavailable because they’re dead or because they’re incapacitated in some fashion, it’s likely their notes of testimony from prior proceedings will be admitted as evidence and read back to jurors during the retrial.

    First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and co-prosecutor Tanner Beck are handling the case. Defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, the chief homicide lawyer for the public defender’s office, represents Fisher.

    If he’s convicted of first-degree murder a third time, Fisher, who is now 74, will face a sentence of life imprisonment. Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against Fisher at the retrial.

    The latest twist in the 41-year-old case occurred in late 2019 when a federal judge overturned Fisher’s 1991 first-degree murder conviction and 1997 death sentence in connection with Rowden’s death.

    U.S. District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter overturned Fisher’s conviction, ruling a county judge’s instruction on “reasonable doubt” and an example of the concept the judge recited during a 1991 trial was “constitutionally deficient” and “fatally flawed” and that Fisher’s lawyer should have objected to the instruction.

    Pratter wrote, “given the blatant problems with this instruction, Mr. Fisher’s counsel was ineffective for failing to object and there is a reasonable probability of a different outcome in Mr. Fisher’s guilty phase trial.” Pratter concluded Fisher’s constitutional rights were violated by the instruction.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Pratter’s decision on Jan. 17, 2020, sending Fisher’s case back to county court for a retrial.

    Fisher’s 1997 death sentence also was overturned with Pratter ruling the aggravating factor relied on by prosecutors at the time was improperly applied.

    Fisher’s conviction and death sentence previously were upheld by the state Supreme Court and Fisher’s appeals on the grounds his lawyers were ineffective also previously were denied by state courts.

    Prosecutors alleged Rowden was killed as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown and Fisher, a back seat passenger in the car, leaned forward and shot Rowden in the neck.

    Prosecutors alleged Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could link Fisher to the 1980 murder of Nigel Anderson, a witness who had been scheduled to testify in a federal heroin case.

    Fisher, who has categorically denied any involvement in Rowden’s murder, wasn’t apprehended until the fall of 1987 in New York City.

    Fisher was first convicted of Rowden’s murder in September 1988 and was sentenced to death. To win that conviction, prosecutors relied on Fisher’s previous conviction in federal court of violating Nigel Anderson’s civil rights.

    In 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned the county murder conviction after a federal judge overturned Fisher’s federal civil rights conviction.

    Fisher was then retried for Rowden’s murder in August 1991, convicted and sentenced to death a second time.

    However, in June 1996, the state Supreme Court, while upholding the murder conviction, ruled Fisher should receive a new penalty hearing because jurors at his 1991 trial were improperly allowed to hear victim impact testimony from Rowden’s mother.

    After a new penalty hearing in June 1997, Fisher was sentenced to death a third time.

    https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/ne...9922036af.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Retrial begins for Norristown man accused of fatally shooting ex-girlfriend in 1980

    41 years after he was first accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend in Norristown, Robert Fisher, previously tried and convicted twice for the crime, returned to a Montgomery County courtroom on Monday for a retrial that was ordered by a federal judge.

    “It’s been 41 years. That’s a long time to wait for justice,” county Assistant District Attorney Tanner Beck argued during his opening statement to a jury of 6 men and 6 women as Fisher’s trial got underway. “It’s never too late to do justice.”

    Beck and First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. alleged Fisher committed 1st-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, when he fatally shot 26-year-old Linda Rowden, of Collegeville, in Norristown on July 10, 1980. If Fisher is convicted of the charge at retrial he faces life imprisonment.

    Prosecutors alleged Rowden was killed as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown and Fisher, a back seat passenger in the car, leaned forward and shot Rowden in the neck and lower back with a revolver.

    Prosecutors alleged Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could link Fisher to the 1980 murder of Nigel Anderson, a witness who had been scheduled to testify in a federal heroin case.

    Given that decades have passed since Rowden’s death, several witnesses and some of the original investigators have since died, prosecutors revealed. Beck, who pointed out he wasn’t even born when the alleged crime occurred, explained to jurors that testimony witnesses gave at prior court proceedings will be read back to jurors during the retrial.

    Jurors are expected to hear the prior testimony of three key witnesses, now all deceased, including a man who was a front seat passenger in Rowden’s car at the time, a woman who was on her porch and who allegedly observed Fisher run from the scene and

    Fisher’s girlfriend at the time to whom prosecutors alleged Fisher confessed.

    Fisher, now 75, and formerly of the 600 block of DeKalb Street, showed no emotion as Beck addressed the jury. Fisher has proclaimed his innocence.

    Defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman argued the 3 key witnesses provided inconsistent testimony and statements to detectives or were suffering from drug addiction and that their testimony cannot be trusted.

    “These witnesses said very, very different things at different times. Why does everybody’s story change?” Allman, the chief homicide lawyer for the public defender’s office, said as she addressed jurors during her opening statement.

    Allman argued Fisher did not kill Rowden and suggested Rowden was fatally shot by another Norristown man who was a passenger in Rowden’s car.

    The retrial is expected to last several days before Judge Todd D. Eisenberg.

    The jury is not aware that Fisher previously was tried and convicted twice for the crime and is the only person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death 3 times.

    The latest twist in the 41-year-old case occurred in late 2019 when a federal judge overturned Fisher’s 1991 first-degree murder conviction and 1997 death sentence in connection with Rowden’s death.

    U.S. District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter overturned Fisher’s conviction, ruling a county judge’s instruction on “reasonable doubt” and an example of the concept the judge recited during a 1991 trial was “constitutionally deficient” and “fatally flawed” and that
    Fisher’s lawyer should have objected to the instruction.

    Pratter wrote, “given the blatant problems with this instruction, Mr. Fisher’s counsel was ineffective for failing to object and there is a reasonable probability of a different outcome in Mr. Fisher’s guilty phase trial.” Pratter concluded Fisher’s constitutional rights were violated by the instruction.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Pratter’s decision on Jan. 17, 2020, sending Fisher’s case back to county court for a retrial.

    Fisher’s 1997 death sentence also was overturned with Pratter ruling the aggravating factor relied on by prosecutors at the time was improperly applied.

    Fisher’s conviction and death sentence previously were upheld by the state Supreme Court, and Fisher’s appeals on the grounds his lawyers were ineffective also previously were denied by state courts.

    Fisher, who has categorically denied any involvement in Rowden’s murder, wasn’t apprehended until the fall of 1987 in New York City.

    Fisher was first convicted of Rowden’s murder in September 1988 and was sentenced to death. To win that conviction, prosecutors relied on Fisher’s previous conviction in federal court of violating Nigel Anderson’s civil rights.

    In 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned the county murder conviction after a federal judge overturned Fisher’s federal civil rights conviction.

    Fisher was then retried for Rowden’s murder in August 1991, convicted and sentenced to death a 2nd time.

    However, in June 1996, the state Supreme Court, while upholding the murder conviction, ruled Fisher should receive a new penalty hearing because jurors at his 1991 trial were improperly allowed to hear victim impact testimony from Rowden’s mother.

    After a new penalty hearing in June 1997, Fisher was sentenced to death a 3rd time.

    (source: The Mercury)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    A man tried four times for the same 1980 slaying likely faces a fifth trial after a Montgomery County jury deadlocked

    A mistrial was declared in the latest murder trial against Robert Fisher, 75, who has been in prison for decades on charges he killed his former girlfriend in Norristown in 1980

    By Anna Orso
    The Philadelphia Enquirer

    Forty-one years and four trials were not enough to settle Robert Fisher’s fate.

    On Friday, a mistrial was declared in the latest murder trial against the 75-year-old, who has been in prison for decades on charges he killed his former girlfriend in Norristown in 1980. After deliberating for a day and a half, a Montgomery County jury deadlocked.

    Fisher, who has long said he did not kill then-26-year-old Linda Rowden, has had several successful appeals, resulting in a more-than-40-year prosecution.

    He leaned forward over the table in Montgomery County Court Friday afternoon as Judge Todd Eisenberg said: “The jury cannot come to a unanimous decision.” Officers escorted him out of the courtroom in handcuffs, walking him past Rowden’s family, whom he did not look at.

    Prosecutors plan to try the case again, meaning Fisher is facing a fifth trial — one that likely won’t take place until next year.

    Jurors told the judge Friday they couldn’t agree on either first- or third-degree murder charges after asking multiple questions. They twice inquired about the legal definition of “reasonable doubt.” And at one point Friday morning, jurors wrote to the judge: “We have a juror who is unable to follow instructions. Please advise.”

    Eisenberg read instructions to the group once more, and sent them back into deliberations. An hour later, they said there was no chance they could agree.

    First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann Jr. said after the mistrial was declared that he was “somewhat surprised” the jury couldn’t come to a consensus. He said Fisher — who took the witness stand against the advice of his attorney — had ”no reasonable” response to critical pieces of evidence prosecutors presented.

    But McCann, who said he will likely again seek a conviction on the same charges, admitted that pursuing the case was a challenge. It was last tried 30 years ago, and some of the key witnesses have died.

    Still, he said, “this is an act that happened 41 years ago, and it reverberates today.”

    Rowden’s sister, Chris DiDomenico, said her family “will take a hung jury” because it means Fisher will remain incarcerated pending a new trial.

    “We are pleased,” she said, “but saddened that this jury could not see the evil in this man.”

    Prosecutors in Montgomery County allege that Fisher shot Rowden twice as she drove him and another man, Richard Mayo, through Norristown on July 10, 1980. They said she was cooperating with investigators probing the death of another man Fisher was suspected of killing, and surmised he was the only person with a motive to kill her.

    Over the years, others have agreed. Fisher has been convicted twice of the killing and sentenced to death three times. But those decisions have been overturned by federal appeals judges who ruled that prosecutorial and judicial errors denied Fisher fair trials.

    This time, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty if Fisher was convicted.

    His attorney, Carrie Allman, cast doubt on the reliability of other witnesses, including Mayo, who told police in 1980 that he watched Fisher shoot Rowden, and testified against him in 1991. But Allman said his story evolved over time, and she theorized he was the killer.

    “Why is there no consistent story here?” she said during closing arguments. “If Richard Mayo was in that car, he should have known what happened.”

    A status conference to review next steps is scheduled for November.

    https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsy...-20210924.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    After 42 years, and five trials, a Montgomery County man is convicted of killing his girlfriend

    The first-degree murder verdict against Robert Fisher brought closure to the family of Linda Rowden four decades after she was shot to death.

    For 42 years, Chris DiDomenico waited for her sister’s killer to face justice. On Wednesday, in a Norristown courtroom not far from where the murder took place, DiDomenico watched that justice unfold.

    A jury convicted Robert Fisher, 76, of first-degree murder in the death of Linda Rowden after just 30 minutes of deliberation. The reactions to the verdict, four decades in the making, were swift and immediate.

    Fisher thrashed, screaming that the jurors were racist, and had to be escorted from the courtroom.

    DiDomenico, for her part, clasped her hands in spontaneous joy, a button holding her late sister’s photo pinned to her sweater.

    “I am just totally ecstatic. I didn’t think this would ever happen,” she said after the hearing. “This really, truly feels like closure. Now, Linda can rest.”

    Rowden, 26, was shot twice at point-blank range as she drove Fisher and another man, Richard Mayo, through Norristown in July 1980. Rowden had been working as a confidential informant with Norristown police, who at the time were investigating Fisher for his alleged involvement in the murder of a rival drug dealer.

    Fisher fled Norristown after the shooting and was arrested seven years later while living in New York City under a fake name.

    He successfully appealed two convictions and three life sentences in this case, but those outcomes were overturned because of legal errors made by judges or trial lawyers. His fourth trial, held in September of last year, ended in a mistrial when one juror refused to cooperate with his peers.

    This week’s trial, Fisher’s fifth, was his shortest, lasting just three days before Montgomery County Judge Todd Eisenberg.

    Prosecutors had long held that Fisher was responsible for the murder. Fisher insisted that it was Mayo, not he, who shot Rowden. But, prosecutors said Rowden’s injuries were inflicted in such a way that it would have been “nearly impossible” for Mayo, sitting next to her in the passenger seat, to have caused them. It was much more likely, experts testified this week, that Fisher shot her from the car’s backseat.

    After the shooting, another one of Fisher’s girlfriends told police Fisher told her he had killed Rowden during an argument, and the woman said she later helped him escape to New York. He left behind .22-caliber ammunition that had been clipped in an identical, unusual manner to the bullets pulled from Rowden’s body.

    Fisher’s attorney, James Lyons, said after the verdict was read that while he was disappointed with the outcome, he respected the jury’s decision.

    “We thought the witnesses that testified had myriad issues, which I think affected their credibility, including lying through all the proceedings,” Lyons said.

    Lyons told jurors during his closing argument Wednesday that prosecutors had rushed to judgment and built their case on those unreliable witnesses. Chief among them, he said, was Mayo, whom he called a self-serving liar who initially refused to cooperate with police.

    And even when he did agree to speak with investigators, Mayo gave multiple, inconsistent statements before providing detectives with the narrative that they say implicated Fisher.

    During his own closing argument, First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann said the case against Fisher was one of “overwhelming guilt.”

    “Even 42 years later, these facts scream the truth,” McCann said. “And that is that this defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.”

    McCann urged jurors to pay close attention to the “web of evidence” surrounding Fisher, including corroborating statements from multiple witnesses who witnessed Fisher flee the scene with the murder weapon in his hand.

    There was no one else, McCann said, who had any motive to harm Rowden. And he noted that it wouldn’t be the first time Fisher had attacked Rowden: Two days before her death, police had issued a warrant for Fisher’s arrest for assaulting her inside his apartment.

    Fisher’s contention that it was Mayo who killed her, sparking a conspiracy to implicate him in the murder that has lasted four decades, was ridiculous, McCann said.

    “Before you walked into these doors,” he said, “you wouldn’t have bought that story. Don’t buy it in here.”

    Fisher, who will be sentenced in the coming weeks, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

    https://www.inquirer.com/news/robert...-20221214.html
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