No appeal for man convicted of murder
A federal court turned down the bid of an Arkansas man convicted of second-degree murder in a 2003 robbery during which an 89-year-old Peters Township woman died of a heart attack to contest his conviction.
U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab ruled Friday “reasonable jurists could not conclude a basis for appeal exists” for Mark M. Fisher, 32, who was convicted in 2008 on charges that also included robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, false impersonation, reckless endangerment and conspiracy. Fisher was sentenced to life in prison in the death of Freda Dale.
In his decision, Schwab agreed with a recommendation by Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell.
Fisher, according to Arkansas state prison records available online, is serving a sentence totaling 80 years there for 2005 and 2006 convictions on theft, burglary and other charges.
He’ll begin serving his sentence in Pennsylvania when his out-of-state prison term is over.
Fisher’s attorneys argued his counsel at trial proved ineffective.
According to a summary of the case included with Mitchell’s recommendation, three men dressed in outdated Equitable Gas attire were seen walking up the Dales’ drive toward their home on Venetia Road about 1 p.m. Jan. 29, 2003. One of them man approached Shannon Dale, 90, who was stainding outside his house and claimed he needed to go inside to do work.
Shannon Dale “saw three men assaulting his wife” when he went inside, according to the summary, and then both elderly spouses “were bound with duct tape” and “Mr. Dale was struck repeatedly on the head and face, kicked in the torso, and his finger twisted so that he would respond to questioning about the location of his money.”
The four men then ransacked the home.
Police found a male’s DNA on the duct tape that had bound Freda Dale.
A caregiver who arrived hours later called the police, who found Freda Dale dead.
When the snow melted six days later, police found a cigarette butt outside the house that was later found to match Fisher’s DNA.
Shannon Dale survived the attack and later identified a man other than Fisher as the person who approcahed him outside his house. That man was charged but the case was withdrawn when no other evidence was found linking him to the case.
Shannon Dale died in 2008 before Fisher’s trial.
Fisher tried during his trial to present an alibi defense; his mother and sister testified he was in Texarkana, Ark., at the time of the attack.
In rejecting Fisher’s petition, the federal court sided with Washington County District Attorney Jerry Moschetta, who argued Fisher hadn’t shown his representation was ineffective.