Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A South Jordan woman has admitted to shooting and killing her husband at a mattress business in South Salt Lake where the two had lived.
However, she said she considered her actions to be in self-defense. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend that she serve probation instead of prison time.
In plea documents, Emilee Petersen Fisher, 48, admitted that she shot a firearm toward her husband, Ronald Fisher, 66, and killed him on March 19, 2021, at 583 W. Billinis Road in South Salt Lake at a mattress business. She said her estranged husband entered the business they had previously lived in together late at night and she was scared. She said he entered through the back door and was wearing gloves.
"I was in fear for my life. I shot a gun at him six times as he was leaving through the front door, hitting him several times, causing his death. I incorrectly, though reasonably, believed that I was legally justified in shooting him," she said in the court document.
Fisher pleaded guilty to felony discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony, and a reduced charge of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, last month in 3rd District Court as part of a plea bargain. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2023.
Fisher was originally charged with murder, a first-degree felony, but court documents in the case note that a murder charge can be reduced to a manslaughter charge based on imperfect self-defense if a person has a reasonable belief that they were legally justified but were not.
As part of the plea deal, four additional counts of felony discharge of a firearm and one count of possession of use of a firearm by a restricted person were dismissed.
Fisher was charged with shooting her husband through the glass front door of the building while he was standing outside. Officers found six shell casings on the floor and a handgun on a bed inside the bedroom in the business.
Fisher's boyfriend was hiding in a dumpster near the business at the time. He told police that Richard Fisher had confronted him about being with his estranged wife. He then ran off out of fear that "something was going to go down," charging documents state. He reported hearing shots shortly after leaving the building.
In a previous hearing, Fisher's attorneys claimed she had been repeatedly abused by her husband.
Attorneys for Fisher and prosecutors agreed to recommend that Fisher be released from custody at the time of sentencing, and for her to serve 60 months of probation. Prosecutors also said they would not oppose terminating the probation after 48 months.
Judge Amber Mettler will ultimately decide whether to accept the recommendations or send Fisher to prison.
Emilee Fisher was previously convicted of felony wire fraud in federal court.
