Posted: 5/26/2005 2:25:39 AM EDT
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Prosecutors strike back The attorney for Harold Fish, accused of shooting an unarmed man at a trailhead last May, wants the case dismissed or a different prosecuting agency on the case. His reasons: Coconino County prosecutors interfered with and tried to suppress findings of the lead detective investigating the case, who believed the shooting was self-defense. County prosecutors, in a motion filed Tuesday, say that not only are the defense allegations untrue, the defense is merely trying to stall, through harassing motions, the prosecution of Fish. The lead detective arrived at his conclusion of self-defense prematurely and had lost his objectivity, say prosecutors. Therefore, he used poor judgment when interviewing Fish, and appeared to have given Fish the idea of self-defense. The prosecution's response, using phrases like "distortion of the facts," and "outright fabrication," requested the judge keep the matter on track to trial. Fish, 57, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Grant Kuenzli, 43, at the Pine Canyon trailhead on the southern edge of the county. Fish admits that he shot Kuenzli, a homeless and possibly mentally troubled man, three times in the chest, but he did so in self-defense. Fish had originally been indicted for, and pleaded innocent to, the shooting of Kuenzli. His claim is that dogs in Kuenzli's care aggressively charged him and he was forced to draw his handgun and fire a warning shot at the dogs. Fish also claims that Kuenzli ran at him after the shot, threatening death or harm, and Kuenzli would not stop after repeated petitions to do so. Judge Mark Moran of Coconino County Superior Court was to hear evidence the week of May 10 to determine if the case should be bound over for trial after he quashed the original indictment. Moran sided with the defense on two issues in voiding the indictment: The grand jury should have heard the history of the aggressiveness of the two dogs that attacked Fish; and that testimony concerning the speed of Kuenzli when he approached Fish was misleading. Before the hearing, Fish's attorney, A. Melvin McDonald, filed the motion seeking the case to be dismissed or to have another agency prosecute. His reason: Prosecutors blatantly interfered with investigative duties of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office detective in charge of the case. Also, prosecutors gave direct orders to suppress elements of the investigation and even attempted to suppress findings in the investigation. And finally, prosecutors harassed the detective to the point of getting him booted off the case and having him placed under investigation for witness tampering. Moran tabled the motion until the prosecution had time to respond. Prior to the hearing, Moran ruled that Fish could not introduce evidence that he acted in self-defense, because that is not the purview of a judge when determining if enough evidence exists to take the matter to trial before a jury. At the eleventh hour after being unsuccessful at postponing the hearing with the new motion to dismiss the case, Fish waived the hearing, pleaded innocent to the new charges and began preparations for trial. The prosecution, in it's 17-page response filed Tuesday, called the defense motion harassment and an attempt to delay prosecution. "What we have here is a person who feels strongly that he should not be prosecuted for shooting an unarmed man because of what he believes to be the character of the man he shot, notwithstanding the fact that he knew nothing about the man when he shot him," stated the prosecution response. Most of the facts referred to by the defense in its motion are actually opinions, distortions of facts or flat-out fabrications, stated the prosecution response. In addition, the defense does not support the claim, with law, that the case should be dismissed or moved. (See related story.) The prosecution response stated: "It's no coincidence that defendant filed his motion only after this court ruled that a claim of self-defense is appropriately put to a jury, rather than to a (judge) at a preliminary hearing." A trial date has not been set, and attorneys said a trial could still be more than a year away. Larry Hendricks can be reached at [email protected] or 556-2262. |
| I remember reading about this when it first happened. The homeless guy (who was shot and killed by the man being prosecuted now) had several aggressive dogs that he would let run around loose. He would go nuts at people who had to fend off the dogs. The homeless guy's behavior problems were well-known, and the dogs constituted a danger to anyone whom they ran across while they were roaming loose. |