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.
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