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Thread: Sedrick Clayton - Tennessee Death Row

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    Sedrick Clayton - Tennessee Death Row




    Prosecutors to seek death penalty in South Memphis shootings

    State prosecutors said today they will seek the death penalty for a man charged with killing his girlfriend and her parents last week in South Memphis.

    Sedrick Clayton, 28, was arraigned on first-degree murder charges this morning before General Sessions Domestic Violence Court Judge Chris Turner, who ordered the defendant remain in jail without bond.

    Prosecutor Karen Cook, who heads the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit, said later the state will be asking for the death penalty for Clayton because of the multiple victims involved in the case.

    Gerald Skahan, chief capital defense attorney for the Public Defenders Office, will represent Clayton.

    A murder case usually takes a year or more before both sides are ready for trial.

    Clayton surrendered to police last Thursday morning several hours after authorities found Arithio Fisher, 56; his wife Patricia Fisher, 46; and their daughter, Pashea Fisher, with gunshot wounds at 1626 Preston near South Parkway and Third.

    The father and daughter were dead at the scene, while the mother died later at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

    Clayton and Pashea Fisher have a 4-year-old daughter who was with Clayton when he turned himself in to police at the Raines Station police precinct.

    Police said in court papers that Clayton admitted shooting the victims during an altercation with his girlfriend.

    He will return to court next month.

    Arithio Fisher was an Internal Revenue Service information technology employee.

    Patricia Fisher was the reservations ticketing manager at the Memphis Zoo, where she had worked since 1995.

    Pashea Fisher was a deputy court clerk in the Shelby County General Session Court Clerk's Office, according to officials.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...memphis-shoot/

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    Mourners remember 'dedicated' family members

    Hundreds of cars lined the streets near St. Stephen Baptist Church in Raleigh Friday as more than a thousand people mourned three slain family members who were remembered as being especially loving and dedicated to one another.

    The funeral for Arithio "Rickey" Fisher, 56, his wife, Patricia Fisher, 46, and their daughter, PaShea Fisher, 23, who were killed last week in a domestic homicide, was a "beautiful home-going" for a "wonderful" family, friends and family members said.

    "Circumstances had to be sad, but overall it was beautiful," said Julia Ollie, who is related to the Fishers by marriage.

    "It was such a wonderful family -- dedicated," Ollie said. "They would all pile in the car going to church on Sunday."

    The Fishers were active members of Oak Spring Baptist Church in Arlington, where Arithio Fisher was a deacon and he and his wife sang in the mass choir.

    He had worked for the Internal Revenue Service for more than 30 years.

    "He was a beautiful man. Everybody loved him," said co-worker LaVetta Porter. "It's been very sad at the IRS."

    Patricia Fisher was the reservations ticketing manager at the Memphis Zoo, where she had worked since 1995.

    The service was "gorgeous," said Chris Schadrack, a colleague at the zoo.

    "It was a wonderful testimony from their friends and family. It was a very moving service," said Schadrack.

    PaShea Fisher was a deputy court clerk, and General Sessions Civil Court Judge Lonnie Thompson was among those asked to speak.

    "She was very outgoing and she was very loving and you couldn't help but to love her," said a cousin, Tyrone Williams.

    The Fishers were shot on Jan. 19, the shared birthday of Arithio and Patricia Fisher, at their home at 1626 Preston near South Parkway and Third.

    The father and daughter died at their home. The mother died later that day at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

    Sedrick Clayton, 28, faces first-degree murder charges in the case. He has a 4-year-old daughter with PaShea Fisher. The child, Joydin, was with her father when he turned himself in to police several hours after the shooting.

    Clayton is being held without bond, and prosecutors say they will ask for the death penalty.

    The little girl, who lived with her mother and grandparents, is now being cared for by family, Williams said.

    "We're going to get through it," Williams said. "Everybody is going to be there for her. It's a huge family."

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...amily-members/

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    February 15, 2012

    Attorneys ask for mental evaluation for triple murder suspect

    By Ben Watson
    WMC-TV

    MEMPHIS, TN - Attorneys for triple murder suspect Sedrick Clayton were back in court Wednesday, seeking a mental evaluation for their client.

    Minutes into Clayton's hearing, his attorney asked the judge for a mental evaluation for his client.

    "At this point, we enter an order for mental evaluation to have him evaluated for competency and other mental health issues," said appointed defense attorney Gerald Skahan.

    The judge approved the request and reset the case to March 21.

    Skahan said the mental evaluation will determine where they will go next with the case.

    "They're pretty standard in a case such as this," he said. "In most homicide cases, particularly a triple homicide, it's a pretty general course of action."

    Clayton is charged with first degree murder following the January 19 shootings of his former girlfriend, PaShea Fisher, and her parents, Ricky and Tricia Fisher.

    Investigators said the shooting happened during an argument. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in the case.

    The next major step for Clayton will be a preliminary hearing. After that, he is expected to be indicted by a grand jury.

    Skahan said he has not officially entered a plea for his client yet.

    "A plea of not guilty is entered as a matter of course at the arraignment," said Skahan. "We're a long way away from any type of disposition."

    Defense attorneys said they have also not asked for any type of bail to be set as Clayton remains in jail.

    http://www.kltv.com/story/16943638/a...murder-suspect

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    Triple shooting trial to start in Memphis

    Sedrick Clayton offered to plead guilty and serve 3 life terms for gunning down his girlfriend and her parents. Prosecutors in Memphis have accepted plea deals before in death penalty cases, including one in which one of the victims was a police officer.

    This time, they aren't interested.

    Clayton, 30, is to go on trial Monday on murder charges in the January 2011 shootings of Pashea Fisher and her parents, Arithio and Patricia Fisher, at her parents' home. Police say his 4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time, and that he took her with him before turning himself in hours after the shooting.

    A police affidavit says the victims were shot multiple times, and that Clayton - who has no prior criminal record as an adult aside from traffic violations - acknowledged in a typed statement that he was responsible.

    Several Memphis attorneys have questioned why prosecutors would continue with a costly, emotionally-trying, capital trial when they have a guilty plea in hand. While prosecutors have the right to seek death when they believe it is warranted, it is puzzling that they would accept a plea deal in the officer's shooting and not in Clayton's case, an outside attorney said.

    One expert called Clayton's unusual offer a tactic by his attorney to influence a jury that would decide whether Clayton should be executed.

    Gerald Skahan, Clayton's lawyer, wrote a letter in April 2013 to Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich saying that the guilty pleas will ensure Clayton will never be released from prison and will save taxpayers the cost of an expensive death penalty trial. Skahan has said in court hearings that he does not intend to challenge prosecutors' assertions that Clayton fired the shots.

    The letter says Clayton wants to accept responsibility for his actions in the impulse shooting.

    "Sedrick has two young daughters, one of whom is the daughter of one of the victims, who may one day want answers from him, the source, about how and why this horrific tragedy occurred," the letter said. "Too many lives have been lost in this case."

    But Weirich has stayed firm. In a court filing in July 2012, her office said it would seek the death penalty in the Clayton case because the shootings were a "mass murder" of 3 people. She has declined to say why she declined the plea offer or to discuss details of pre-trial negotiations.

    "Certainly, when more than one victims are killed in one criminal episode, it's taken very seriously by this office and by the community," said Weirich, who is running for re-election this year.

    Nashville defense attorney David Raybin, a former prosecutor, said the death penalty can be used to induce a defendant to plead guilty in the most serious cases, and there often are private negotiations ahead of a potential trial.

    "But, that the defendant publicly throws out that he wants to take a plea like this ... that is uncommon," Raybin said.

    Raybin also said the acceptance of responsibility could be a move by defense attorneys to sway the jury away from the death penalty should Clayton be convicted.

    "That is a tactic that lawyers do use when the facts are overwhelming," Raybin said.

    In January, Weirich's office accepted a guilty plea in return for 2 consecutive life terms in the case of Alexander Haydel, who fatally shot his wife's ex-husband and Memphis police officer Tim Warren in July 2011. Haydel acknowledged killing Arthur Warren during an argument at a downtown Memphis hotel, then ambushing the officer in a stairwell as he responded to the shooting. The victims were not related.

    Weirich has declined to discuss the Haydel case.

    Longtime defense and civil rights attorney Phillip Kuhn, a former Shelby County prosecutor, also said Clayton's public acceptance of responsibility is unusual. But both he and Raybin said it is fair to question why Weirich would take a plea in the officer shooting and not in Clayton's.

    "The police officer killing, that's really a death penalty case," Kuhn said. "I don't know why she's making a distinction in this case."

    Jury selection begins Monday. Judge Carolyn Wade-Blackett is allowing 911 calls made during the shooting to be used as evidence at trial. She also is allowing the use of photos of the victims taken while they were alive.

    (Source: The Associated Press)
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    Trial in Memphis triple shooting postponed

    The capital trial of a Memphis man charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend and her parents has been postponed until June.

    Sedrick Clayton's trial on three first-degree murder charges had been scheduled to start Monday with jury selection. However, due to the death in the family of one of the prosecutors, the trial has now been moved to June 9.

    Clayton faces the death penalty if convicted of gunning down girlfriend Pashea Fisher and her parents in her parents' home in January 2011. Authorities say Clayton got into an argument with Fisher before shooting her parents in their bedroom, then killing her.

    Police say Clayton's 4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time, and that he took her with him before turning himself in hours after the shooting.

    http://www.local8now.com/home/headli...254515231.html
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    Jury selection begins in triple shooting trial

    Jury selection has begun in the capital trial of a Memphis man charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend and her parents during an argument three years ago.

    Sedrick Clayton's trial on three first-degree murder charges started Monday with jury selection.

    Clayton faces the death penalty if convicted of gunning down girlfriend Pashea Fisher and her parents in her parents' home in January 2011. Authorities say Clayton got into an argument with Fisher before shooting her parents in their bedroom, then shooting her.

    Police say Clayton's 4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time, and that he took her with him before turning himself in hours after the shooting.

    Clayton's written offer to plead guilty to the charges and serve life in prison has not been accepted by prosecutors.

    http://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/art...al-5539186.php
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Jurors hear chaotic emergency call in capital trial in Memphis triple shooting

    An emergency call played for jurors Tuesday captured chaotic, frightening moments during a triple shooting: Panicked screaming, a woman begging her boyfriend not to shoot her parents, and 2 gunshots.

    "Don't kill my mom and my dad, please!" Pashea Fisher yelled at her boyfriend, Sedrick Clayton, during the Jan. 19, 2012 shooting. After the two shots, Fisher could no longer be heard on the 911 call. She had been shot dead.

    Shelby County prosecutors played the call during the 1st day of Clayton's trial on 3 1st-degree murder charges in the deaths of Fisher, 23, and her parents, Arithio and Patricia Fisher, in her parents' home in Memphis.

    Authorities say Clayton got into an argument with Fisher before gunning down her parents in their bedroom, then shooting her near the front door. Clayton's 4-year-old daughter Jordan was in the house at the time, and he took her with him before turning himself in hours after the shooting, police said.

    The victims were shot multiple times, and Clayton - who has no prior criminal record as an adult aside from traffic violations - acknowledged in a typed statement that he was responsible, according to a police affidavit. Clayton's written offer to plead guilty to all 3 murder charges and serve life in prison has been rejected by Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.

    During an opening statement, prosecutor Karen Cook said Clayton shot the Fishers in cold blood, reloading once as he tried to "annihilate the entire Fisher family." Clayton also fired at his girlfriend's brother, Arico Fisher, who was not injured, Cook said.

    In his opening statement, defense attorney Gerald Skahan said the fact that Clayton fired the shots was not in dispute. Skahan said Clayton began shooting after her girlfriend's father and Clayton began fighting.

    Skahan said the shooting came during the heat of an argument and was not premeditated. He said jurors could consider it voluntary manslaughter, not 1st-degree murder.

    "It got out of hand like that," Skahan said, snapping his fingers.

    Memphis Police Department dispatcher Katie Montgomery testified that she answered the first 911 call from the Fisher home.

    "After you heard the 2 shots fired, did you hear the female voice begging anymore?" prosecutor Jennifer Nichols asked Montgomery.

    "No," the dispatcher said.

    In a 2nd 911 call, Arico Fisher could be heard telling another dispatcher that his family was shot and the shooter had left the house. Clayton is also charged with stealing his girlfriend's vehicle and fleeing the scene.

    Clayton lowered his head and some in the audience wiped tears from their eyes as the calls were played.

    (Source: The Associated Press)
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Memphis girl testifies in murder trial that she saw her father hurt her mother, grandparents

    A 6-year-old girl testified Friday that her father shot her mother and grandparents in the home she lived in with her family in Memphis.

    Wearing a red-white-and-blue dress, Joydin Clayton took the stand as a prosecution witness in the capital murder trial of her father, Sedrick Clayton.

    Clayton, 31, is charged with fatally shooting 23-year-old Pashea Fisher — his girlfriend and the girl's mother — during an argument on Jan 19, 2012 in the home belonging to Fisher's parents. He also is charged with killing his girlfriend's parents, Arithio and Patricia Fisher, in their bedroom.

    Authorities say Clayton left the home after the shooting with his daughter, before turning himself in to police.

    Prosecutors will seek the death penalty if Clayton is convicted as charged. In a statement to police, Clayton said he began shooting after Fisher's father kicked him in the chest as Clayton argued with his girlfriend.

    Joydin Clayton sat up straight in the witness chair as relatives watched from the audience section of the courtroom. She also pointed out her father, who looked on from the defendant's chair.

    Joydin was questioned by prosecutor Jennifer Nichols, who asked her if the girl knew the difference between lying and telling the truth. Joydin said she did. The girl said she lived in the house with her mother, grandparents and uncle.

    Nichols asked the little girl who was hurt the day of the shooting. Joydin responded, "my momma, my granny and my paw-paw."

    Nichols asked her who hurt them.

    "My daddy," she said.

    Nichols then asked how he hurt them.

    "With his gun," the girl said.

    "Did he shoot the gun?" the prosecutor asked.

    "Yes, ma'am," Joydin said.

    The girl also testified that she did not want to go with her father after the shooting.

    On cross-examination by defense attorney Gerald Skahan, the girl said she did not remember if her father and grandfather got into a fight before the shooting. She acknowledged that it was hard to remember events from more than two years ago, when she was 4.

    After her testimony, lawyers played a videotape of her interview with an official the day of the killings. Joydin acknowledged in the interview that her grandfather did kick her father.

    Sedrick Clayton said in his statement to police that the shooting was in the "heat of the moment" and he panicked. In opening statements, Skahan told jurors they could decide the killings were voluntary manslaughter if they believed the shootings were not premeditated.

    Before the trial, Sedrick Clayton offered to plead guilty in return for serving three consecutive life sentences. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich rejected the offer.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...riple-Shooting
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Sedrick Clayton found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder

    Sedrick Clayton, 31, was found guilty Saturday morning of three counts of first-degree murder for the 2012 shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her parents.

    Clayton, 31, told police he was acting in self-defense and firing wildly when he shot Pashea Fisher, 23; her mother Patricia Fisher, 46; and her father Arithio Fisher, 56; in the early morning hours of Jan. 19, 2012.

    But prosecutors Jennifer Nichols and Karen Cook argued that Clayton shot the family in cold blood, firing at least 12 shots and hitting the family with at least 10 of those bullets.

    "He shot at 83 percent that day," Cook told jurors in her closing argument Friday.

    Emotional family members cried, hugged and prayed outside together the courtroom together, wearing black shirts in solidarity and, for the ladies, pearls to honor victim Patricia.

    On Friday, the family wore red in honor of Pashea's favorite color.

    The four-day trial was one of the shortest death penalty trials defense attorney Gerald Skahan could recall.

    "The jury listened to the evidence and made their decision," he said. "We knew it was an uphill battle the whole time."

    Clayton's family was prepared for this verdict, he said. "But until it hits, you never know."

    The sentencing phase of the trial will now begin, when jurors will be asked by prosecutors to hand down a death sentence, and defense attorneys will likely ask the jury for a sentence of life in prison or life without parole.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...unts-first-de/
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    Man sentenced to death for 2012 killings of 3

    A jury on Sunday sentenced a Memphis man to death for killing his girlfriend and her parents in a shooting rampage in a home more than two years ago.

    Jurors deliberated for two hours before handing down the death sentence for Sedrick Clayton, 31. They also could have sentenced Clayton to life in prison, with or without the possibility of parole.

    The same 12-person jury convicted Clayton of first degree murder Saturday for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, 23-year-old Pashea Fisher, and her parents in the Fishers' home on January 19, 2012.

    Clayton got into an argument with his girlfriend before shooting her parents, Arithio and Patricia Fisher, in their bedroom. Clayton then shot his girlfriend at close range near the front door.

    Clayton fired 12 shots, hitting the victims nine times. Jurors heard a chaotic emergency call in which Pashea Fisher begged Clayton not to kill her parents.

    Clayton's and Pashea Fisher's 4-year-old daughter Joydin was in the house at the time, and he took her with him before turning himself in. The girl, now 6, was a key trial witness, saying that her father shot her mother and grandparents.

    "Three wonderful people lost their life in a single morning for absolutely no reason," prosecutor Jennifer Nichols said. Later, she added, "He could have left (the house) at any time. He chose not to."

    Clayton did not testify or make any statements during the sentencing hearing.

    Outside the courtroom, members of the Fisher family softly sang, "His Eye is on the Sparrow."

    No less than 20 of the Fishers' friends and relatives attended each day of the seven-day trial. On one day they dressed in red tops, blue jeans and pearls, because Pashea Fisher's favorite color was red, her father often wore blue jeans, and her mother liked to wear pearls.

    The Fishers also shared food with the Clayton family as they waited during jury deliberations.

    Defense attorney Gerald Skahan asked the jury to spare Clayton's life and sentence him to life in prison for several reasons, including the pain his execution would cause his family and the fact Clayton had no prior adult criminal record other than traffic violations.

    Clayton turned himself in after the shooting and confessed in a typed statement taken by police the same day. In the statement, Clayton said he started shooting out of fear, after Arithio Fisher kicked him in the chest while Clayton and his girlfriend argued about her possible infidelity. Skahan proposed the shootings were in self-defense.

    Before the trial, Clayton offered to plead guilty in return for serving three consecutive life sentences without parole. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich rejected the offer.

    Nichols, the prosecutor, told jurors that Clayton deserved the death penalty because he committed mass murder, which she defined as the killing of three or more people during a single criminal episode or during a 48-month period.

    Weirich took into consideration the opinion of the Fisher family, the brutal nature of the killings, and aggravating factors leading to a sentence of death in rejecting the plea offer, Nichols said.

    http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/15/648...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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