A 16-year-old girl accused of shooting two young men at a bonfire near Reliance last month was acting in a confusing and violent situation and likely out of self-defense, her attorney argued.
Addisyn Rain Marie Fisher, 16, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, faces two counts of aggravated assault in Sweetwater County District Court. Each charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. They’re based on claims that, at a Feb. 2 bonfire, Fisher fired a pistol at two men who were in a fight with her boyfriend, shooting one in the hand and another in the jaw area. This was after Fisher's boyfriend chased down other youth in a truck chase, court documents allege.
The Sweetwater County Attorney’s Office charged Fisher as an adult Feb. 3. Her arraignment is set for Thursday.
Her attorney Nathan Jeppsen is asking District Court Judge Suzannah Robinson to send the case to juvenile court, according to a written argument Jeppsen filed Friday.
The juvenile court’s punishments or sentences can only apply to someone until she’s 21.
Essentially, Jeppsen’s filing says Fisher has been a model student, has not been arrested before, has behaved well while out of jail on bond and could benefit from the rehabilitation options that juvenile court offers.
The filing also notes that juvenile court processes are also confidential,which would spare Fisher from the “extensive… publicity that (has) put an incredible and unfair strain on a child at an extremely vulnerable age.” And the filing hints that Fisher was either acting to defend herself or her boyfriend, or believed she was.
“At worst the alleged act appears (to) be a heat in the moment decision by a Child who believed that another’s life was in danger,” wrote Jeppsen. It’s one of multiple references the attorney made to Wyoming’s self-defense law, which exonerates people taking reasonable defensive actions under a “reasonable” belief that they or others were about to be harmed.
Judge’s Laundry List
When judges weigh whether to send juveniles from adult to juvenile court, they weigh a list of factors then consider their composite, the filing says.
Those factors are:
- How serious the alleged crime is;
- Whether it was done in an aggressive, violent, premeditated or willful manner;
- Whether it was against people, or merely property;
- Whether the child is charged alongside adults and the court could be more efficient by having them in the same court;
- How mature the child is;
- Prior record, and chances of rehabilitation in juvenile versus adult court.
Jeppsen concedes in his filing that aggravated assault charges implicating a deadly weapon are serious, but he rebuts any claim Fisher acted with premeditation.
He also concedes that the alleged crime hurt people but says the court should consider that Fisher “or whoever fired the shot” may have been acting in self-defense and confusing circumstances.
No adults are charged alongside Fisher, says the filing.
Fisher’s a 16-year-old of normal maturity, but beset by “the same fears challenges and lack of maturation consistent with any other child her age,” Jeppsen wrote.
“The Court would be taking a grave risk to the ultimate long-term safety of the Community by allowing the continual emotional destruction of a child that the publicity of these charges have caused,” Jeppsen wrote.
Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe declined Tuesday to comment in response. Erramouspe may file a response with the court, however. Robinson may then schedule a hearing to weigh both sides’ arguments, then decide which court should host Fisher’s prosecution.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
