Halloween is supposed to be a time of fun and happiness. It’s a time when children dress up in costumes and roam the neighborhoods, looking for candy and pulling pranks on friends and family. The customary greeting, “Trick-or-Treat,” implies, “Give us candy, or suffer a prank.”
Halloween night in 2019 was like so many others before it. Kids were dressed as spooks and witches, princesses and cowboys. The neighborhoods were lit by jack-o'-lanterns and decorated with a host of ghostly apparitions. The local fire hall was open, giving out candy and cooking hotdogs for residents.
But on that Halloween night, in the small town of Liberty, a prank by a local man resulted in deadly consequences. That night turned into a true horror, with a man dying on the sidewalk outside his mother’s home with a gunshot wound to the chest. The ensuing court case would ask whether the trigger was pulled out of fear, or out of anger.
On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 51-year-old Albert Wayne Fisher, Jr. was on trial in DeKalb County Criminal Court for the fatal shooting of his stepson 37-year-old Tyler Durden. Durden, a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army, had been overseas and had come home that fatal evening to surprise his mother, who lived in Eckles Heights in Liberty. As the 18-year Army veteran was on his way for the visit, he reportedly stopped at a Walmart to purchase a mask and outfit from the movie “Scream” as part of the surprise.
During the trial, Durden’s aunt, Charlotte Ann Parsley, took the stand and told the court that her nephew was known as a prankster, and would show up unexpectedly on visits. “He would show up at 6:00 a.m. unannounced wearing a backpack,” Parsley said. “He was unpredictable. He loved a good prank. He loved his family and we loved him. He always wanted to keep us as a unit.”
Parsley also told the court that Tyler Durden was not his birth name, and that he had changed it because he had come from an abusive household.
A neighbor in Eckles Heights, Heather Hillard, who lived in the adjoining duplex as the Fisher’s, also took the stand and told the court what she had witnessed that evening. She testified that as she was sitting on her porch handing out candy, she saw an individual come around the corner wearing a “Scream” mask carrying a bag of candy and that she thought he was just another trick-or-treater. She said she offered him candy, but he just walked up to the Fisher’s door and knocked normally. She told him that their light was off and that they weren’t giving out candy, and the figure then walked away from the house.
Hillard then testified that Albert Fisher then opened the door and yelled out, “Be careful whose door you’re knocking on!” According to Hillard, Durden was 100 yards away, when Fisher repeated the warning. Durden then turned around and walked back towards the duplex.
According to Hillard, Durden stood at the bottom of some concrete steps leading to the porch of the duplex while Fisher was at the top of the steps. Durden then cocked his ear, then Fisher came out of his door, making long strides, holding a pistol. Fisher pointed the gun and said, “I will shoot you.”
Durden then shrugged and tapped his chest with his hands, saying no words. Hillard claimed that the altercation occurred over two or three minutes, and she could see the masked individual’s hands the whole time. She then claimed that Mrs. Fisher came out of the house on the phone, supposedly with police, telling Albert to put the gun down and that it was just a prank. Hillard then turned to try to get her husband’s attention, who was inside her house. It was then that the gun went off, striking the masked man in the chest.
Hillard said that Durden was holding his chest and had pulled his mask off. Fisher did not check on Durden, and seemed agitated and irritated. She also said that when the shot went off, the two men were six to 10 feet apart. She said she never felt threatened by Durden and thought he was just a trick-or-treater.
Another neighbor, Margaret Hopson, corroborated much of Hillard’s story. Hopson lived three doors up from where the incident took place and testified that she was handing out candy when she noticed a person in a “Scream” mask. She told the individual to come get some candy but he didn’t approach her. She said she watched as the masked man approached the Fisher’s home, where Mrs. Fisher was on the phone and Albert was pointing a gun.
Hopson told the court that Durden was at the bottom of the steps, while Mr. Fisher was at the top of the steps. “He pointed the gun and shot him,” she said.
Detective Brian Williams of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, testified that he actually heard the shot. Williams, who also volunteers as a DeKalb firefighter, was at the Liberty Fire Hall that evening when he said he heard a “pop.” He then heard radio calls of an active shooter and he went to investigate.
Williams testified that the fire hall was only about 400 to 500 yards away from the scene, and when he arrived he saw Durden laying on the sidewalk, and the silhouette of Mr. Fisher standing in the doorway of his duplex. He then told Fisher to put the gun down, a command that the man followed, laying the 5-shot .38 caliber pistol on an ottoman inside the home. Williams then commanded Fisher to get down and crawl out of the home, something that Fisher also complied with.
TBI Special Agent Criminal Investigator Elizabeth Williams then testified as to what she saw after she was requested to investigate the scene by the District Attorney General’s Office. Agent Williams identified the weapon recovered from the scene, telling the court that there were four live rounds in the 5-shot cylinder and one spent round.
Agent Williams also identified various items of evidence in the case, including the mask Durden was wearing, a plastic bag with three pieces of candy, and a receipt from a Walmart in Clarkesville, TN, showing the purchase of articles of clothing and the “Scream” mask at 1:55 p.m. that day. Williams also identified a hoodie and a shirt, which she pointed out holes and reddish-brown staining.
Forensic Pathologist Dr. Erin Carney took the stand telling the court that Durden did not die right away, and actually died at Vanderbilt Medical Center after doctors worked to save his life. She testified that the trajectory of the bullet came from a downward angle, shattering a rib and going through his diaphragm, before puncturing his liver and lodging in his spine.
The prosecution then rested its case, setting the stage for the defense’s lone witness, Albert Wayne Fisher himself.
Fisher told the court that he had had been married to Durden’s mother, Debbie, for about eight months, and had only met Durden a couple of times, once at a funeral and another time during Christmas. Fisher said that in total he had probably only spoken to Durden 35-45 minutes altogether.
Mr. Fisher said that on that Halloween night he was sitting in his recliner when a heard a loud banging on his door. He said that the banging was so bad that it had knocked some picture frames off the wall. “They were banging like hell on the door,” he said. He then stated that Mrs. Fisher had started towards the door to tell whoever that they were not handing out candy, but he told her not to open the door and he stepped outside.
Fisher claimed that he saw two individuals crossing the street, and he asked his next door neighbor, who had knocked on the door, and she pointed to the man in the “Scream” mask. Fisher claimed that he yelled out, “I’d appreciate if you’d respect my house. You knocked pictures off my wall.”
The masked man then turned around and walked to the sidewalk in front of the home. The individual then made a “come here” motion with his hands, then shrugged with his arms out, never saying a word.
Fisher then claimed that he told the man, “It would be best if you just get on down the road.” Fisher said that the figure walked up onto the first step when he told him again, “Get on up the street.”
Fisher said the man then started to dance before he hopped up onto the second step on the sidewalk, while he remained on the porch of the duplex. It was then that Fisher said he drew his concealed weapon, but the individual then made a gun gesture with his hand, pointing to his chest then forehead, before again shrugging.
He told the court that when the figure stepped onto the fourth step he cocked the hammer on the gun and said, “If you come any closer I will shoot you,” but the individual made the same gestures, pointing to his chest and head.
Fisher testified that when the man stepped onto the fifth step he could tell that he did not fear the gun, and that he thought that he was going to attack. He claimed he was aiming for his shoulder when he fired the gun.
After he was shot, Fisher said Durden fell onto his knees on the fourth step and pulled his mask off. Fisher said that Durden cried out, “Mom, I’m hit in the chest!”
Fisher claimed he felt threatened by the masked man as he climbed the stairs towards the duplex, but the testimony was contradictory to what other witnesses had said they saw. They claimed that Durden was at the bottom of the stairs when shot, some six to 10 feet away. They also said that it was clear that Durden was unarmed, holding only a bag of candy. But Fisher claimed that Mrs. Hopson was not even at the scene at the time of the shooting. He also admitted that he would not have fired had he known it was Durden.
In the end it came down to the jury. Eight men and four women would decide Fisher’s fate. Overall, the trial only lasted one day, something unheard of in murder cases. After a six-hour trial, it took the jury under an hour and fifteen minutes to reach their verdict.
Fisher faced a range of verdicts, including second degree murder, attempted second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, criminally negligent homicide, aggravated assault, or just assault. The jury decided voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony.
The verdict was not what either side had hoped for. Presiding Criminal Court Judge Wesley Bray granted a motion by state prosecutors that Fisher’s bond be revoked and he was immediately sent to the DeKalb County Jail, where he will await a sentencing hearing.
The prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong and Assistant DA Evan Smith, said they were disappointed with the verdict. “We sought a second degree murder conviction,” Strong said. “We thought that is what the facts warranted in the case, so we are not happy with the verdict. But, when you try a case to the jury that is sometimes how it goes.”
“The Department of Corrections will now do a pre-sentencing report that encompasses all his (Fisher’s) criminal history, and all the facts related to this case and then we will go back in front of Judge Bray, and he will fix the sentence on January 11”, Strong concluded.
The defense attorneys, Michael Auffinger and Jon Slager of Murfreesboro, said that they had sought an acquittal, but was pleased Fisher wasn’t convicted of second degree murder. “It’s obviously a lesser included offense. For now I am happy with it, but ultimately its Mr. Fisher’s decision what happens after sentencing in terms of seeking a new trial,” said Auffinger. I’m not sure he (Fisher) fully comprehends the significance of the verdict.”
“Voluntary manslaughter is adequate provocation, so the jury found that there was some role that the victim played in the defendant’s action,” added Attorney Jon Slager.
Fisher will be sentenced at a hearing on January 11, 2022. He faces a possible three to six year sentence as a range one offender.