People v. Fisher

Richard Erick Fisher was convicted of second-degree murder on evidence tending to show that he stabbed William Tappert with a hunting knife at the home of Mary Fisher, his estranged wife. At a sentencing hearing, a police detective, who interviewed Mary Fisher at *596the crime scene, testified that she told the detective that Fisher had asked her "to tell the police that Tappert had fallen into the knife.” That statement is also recited in the presentence report.

The Court of Appeals concluded that the detective’s testimony and the recital in the presentence report were evidence that Fisher had…