Robert Fischer is Set to Go Free
Congrats to Arizona criminal attorney Dwane Cates on getting a murder conviction thrown out in the Robert Fischer murder case. This was the case in which a well respected Orange County Family lawyer, Robert Fischer, was accused of murdering his step daughter’s husband in Queen Creek. This case garnered national attention and was even featured in a recent Dateline episode. Despite the lack of any DNA evidence, or even a motive, Robert was convicted of 2nd Degree Murder in December.
Fischer was visiting his family on December 10, 2010 when Lee Radder died of a single shot from Fischer’s handgun. The state has claimed that Fischer, who is a former SWAT team police officer, staged the shooting to look like a suicide.
In reading some of the press that was released today, it is clear there continues to be a lot of misinformation regarding the case. For example the Arizona Republic cites Court Records saying “the gun was found in Radder’s right hand despite him being left handed, and blood spatter indicated Fischer was in close proximity to the victim when he was shot.” However, court records will also show that Dwane Cates provided evidence in court that the victim only wrote left handed. Dwane provided sworn testimony from the victims wife and even offered pictures of the victim playing golf right handed and using a power drill right handed.
On Friday, the trial judge ruled there was no evidence Fischer pulled the trigger. “The absence of the defendant’s DNA and fingerprints on the gun means it is highly improbable that the defendant fired the gun,”
In addition, the State’s entire case rested on a detective’s testimony that Fischer staged the scene based on blood spatter. While Dwane Cates hired a world class blood spatter expert with 35 years of experience, the States expert lacked credibility in the judge’s eyes. Judge Mullins stated that “the detective was a fledgling in the field of blood spatter, and his conclusion that the defendant manipulated the scene was not supported by the physical evidence, rendering it wholly lacking credibility”
I actually went to a few days of this trial. I was astonished that the jury came back with a guilty plea. There was no motive and no physical evidence. While there is no way anyone will ever know exactly what happened that night, there certainly seems to be reasonable in this case.