Aaron Fisher has pleaded not guilty in a felony assault charge stemming from an alleged sodomy incident of a 5-month-old girl in 2009.
At a hearing Friday at the Laclede County Courthouse in Lebanon, Fisher entered his plea in front of newly inducted 26th Judicial Circuit Judge Peggy Richardson.
Richardson also addressed motions to dismiss, among a few others, filed Jan. 16 by Fisher's defense attorney, Kimberly Kollmeyer. Kollmeyer's motions to dismiss allege violation of the double jeopardy clause, the right to speedy trial and "res judicata," as the original case dealing with forcible sodomy previously had been dismissed.
These filings come along with a motion for bond reduction and motion for speedy trial.
Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Winfrey filed objections to these motions Jan. 19. A representative from the state noted no objections to the motions on Friday but to the notice of the motions.
Richardson said it is understood five days' notice is needed to file these motions before a proceeding is required. As a result, Richardson sustained the objection and ordered to hear the motions at the next available court date. Those motions will now be heard Feb. 24.
On Nov. 16, Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Winfrey filed a new felony assault charge against Fisher for the October 2009 attack on the then 5-month-old girl.
A Sept. 8 probable cause statement reports Fisher had admitted to Miller County law enforcement officers he sodomized the infant and also said the infant "wouldn't stop crying after he sodomized her, so he hit her in the head with his fist as hard as he could." The statement also said Fisher told investigators he wanted the infant to die.
Fisher was charged previously in Miller County based on the same circumstances as the current case, including probable cause statements from both cases as exhibits, Kollmeyer explained court documents relating to the motions to dismiss.
Two counts of statutory sodomy were filed against Fisher on Oct. 28, 2009, she said. On Nov. 4, 2009, the state filed an amended complaint charging two counts of forcible sodomy, abuse of a child and class A felony assault in the first degree. On June 1, 2010, information was filed for only two counts of forcible sodomy, with amended information filed for only two counts of forcible sodomy on July 28, 2014, according to court documents.
The double jeopardy clause present in both the U.S. and Missouri constitutions states no person should be put in jeopardy of life or liberty twice for the same offense, Kollmeyer explains in court documents. As such, double jeopardy bars successive prosecution if the offenses are comprised of the same elements, she said.
On July 28, 2014 - almost five years after he was charged - Fisher pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory sodomy. That plea was set aside Nov. 7, 2014, which the appeals court panel noted was "based on Fisher's statements to the Sentencing Assessment Report writer regarding the commission of the crimes, where Fisher told the writer 'I know I did it, but I honestly don't remember.'"
Fisher was arrested Oct. 28, 2009, and spent six years in the Miller County Jail waiting for trial in the original case, receiving a change of judge and venue to Cole County. The case was dismissed with prejudice on Oct. 27, 2015, for violating the defendant's speedy trial rights.
The state appealed the case's dismissal, with the Western District Court of Appeals taking up the case and upholding the trial court's order to dismiss it with prejudice, according to court documents. The Court of Appeals ruling was appealed Dec. 7.
Kollmeyer's motion to dismiss on violation of speedy trial right references the proceedings that took place in the original case, as well as Fisher's six-year jail time awaiting trial and dismissal of the case after the court found Fisher's motion for a speedy trial violated.
In February 2011, Fisher submitted his own handwritten "Motion for Speedie Trial."
After circuit judges Stan Moore and Kenny Hayden recused themselves from the case, the Missouri Supreme Court in January 2015 named Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce to be the special judge.
On Sept. 9, 2015, Winfrey asked for a new trial date, which Joyce set for Nov. 23. In mid-September 2015, Fisher's public defender, Jason Emmons, asked Joyce to dismiss the case because it had taken so long.
In an Oct. 27, 2015, order, Joyce agreed, ruling "the State has failed to bring (Fisher) to trial without any reason."