The man convicted of the shooting death of his stepson on Halloween night in 2019, is telling his side of the story in a letter written to the Smithville Review.

On November 17, 2021, Albert Wayne Fisher, Jr. was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the shooting that left his stepson, Tyler Durden, dead outside his mother’s home in Liberty. Fisher had faced second-degree murder in the case, which carries a punishment of 15-25 years, but the jury convicted him of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter.

On January 11, 2022, Fisher faced the DeKalb County Criminal Court again for a sentencing hearing, where Judge Wesley Bray sentenced him to the maximum, six years in prison. During the hearing, Judge Bray expressed his disappointment with the jury’s decision, stating “While I respect the jury’s verdict of voluntary manslaughter, I cannot understand it, given the proof in this case.”

On March 21, 2023, Fisher had his first parole hearing, where the Tennessee Board of Parole later declined parole due to the seriousness of the offense. The Board has scheduled another parole review for Mr. Fisher in September 2024.

After the parole denial, Fisher wrote a letter to the Smithville Review in which he claims to want to tell his side of what happened that fateful Halloween night, and that he wants his wife’s family to reconcile.

The letter reads as follows:

“My name is Albert Fisher and I have enclosed a first-hand account of what led up to me taking another man’s life. Not just another person, but my wife’s own son. I have since gone to trial and was convicted and received a 6-year sentence to be served in the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

“My wife continues to stand by my side, and for that I am truly grateful. I couldn’t have asked God for a better wife. My wife knows me and she witnessed with her own eyes what happened, and she doesn’t find any fault in me or my actions. I’m not looking for sympathy and I’m prepared to serve my entire sentence if that’s God’s plan. I just want you to print the whole truth because there are always two sides to a story, the absolute truth and what someone wants you to believe is the truth. This was a tragic and traumatizing event and I believe it’s time for everyone that was effected by this to find peace and healing.

“On October 31, 2019, a Thursday evening at approximately 5 p.m., I was sitting in my recliner in the living room. My wife, Debbie, had just gotten home from work. We were discussing where we were going to go out to eat dinner when suddenly someone began beating on the front door. It sounded more like the door was being kicked in. It actually scared me and my wife a great deal because some pictures that were hanging on the wall fell and broke on the floor.

“I went to the door and opened it to see who had done this and nobody was at the door. We lived in a duplex and when I stepped out on the porch my neighbor was sitting in a chair. I asked her who had just beat on my door and she pointed to a person walking away down the sidewalk.

“I immediately blurted out, ‘Why are you beating on my door so hard disrespecting my house? You knocked some pictures off my wall and broke them.’

“He spun around immediately and began trotting back towards my porch where I was standing. My wife, Debbie, had followed me out on the porch and was standing behind me and I was trying to get her to go back inside while dealing with what I believed to be a threat.

“My neighbor was still sitting in her chair listening and watching the whole ordeal. He was a big man, dressed in all black, at least 6’3” tall and over 275 pounds and I’m only 5’7” tall and about 175 pounds. I didn’t recognize him and couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a Halloween mask like the one from the movie ‘Scream.’ My wife didn’t recognize who he was and there wasn’t a car parked anywhere in sight. His car was found later parked a couple of streets over in a senior citizens hall parking lot.

“He never said a word when he approached my porch. I had been a responsible licensed conceal gun carrier since 2015 and was trained by a former Metro Nashville detective. From the time I became a licensed carrier, till that day, I had never had to take my gun out to defend myself or my wife and home.

“By the time the man got to my porch I had my gun in my hand where he could see it and warned him to not come up on my porch. I had no idea what his intentions were because he wasn’t saying anything, and he began waving his arms in the air and pointing at his forehead and heart. I know I told him at least four times to not come on my porch. At my trial my neighbor testified that I warned him eight times.

“He suddenly came up my steps towards me and my wife, and not knowing what his intent was, in fear and defense I pointed the gun at his left shoulder as he lunged towards me, and I pulled the trigger one time.

“He went down to his knees and reached up, and with one hand removed the mask he was wearing and said aloud, ‘Mom, I’m hit in the chest.’ He then began crawling on his knees around the yard and I asked my neighbor to see if she could get him to stop moving around while I went inside to get my phone and call 911. My wife immediately took off running across the street between two buildings to get the fire department located on the next street over. He was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he succumbed to his injury at 11:30 p.m.

“I am truly sorry for taking another person’s life, not just another person, my wife’s own son whom I had never met. I will live with this shame and remorse for the rest of my life. I wish I had it to do all over again, and never had become a licensed gun holder. I was exercising my right to bear arms and in hindsight I regret it. I don’t make any excused for taking another person’s life and now I’m left to live with the guilt.

“My actions have created many victims and my wife has lost her son, her husband, and her daughter. Since my incarceration my wife has had many health problems and has been diagnosed with age related Macular Degeneration in both eyes. Since that day there has been no contact between my wife and her daughter. Now my wife has nobody to help her get through her life and she has been deemed legally blind. I’m learning how to transcribe braille right now at the prison I’m at, so I can help her learn once I get out.

“I don’t want my wife and her daughter to continue to be at odds, and for my wife’s grandkids to grow up without their grandmother. I just want for them to find peace and forgiveness between them and be a family. There’s already enough hate in the world today when nobody has to live by hate. It’s an individual’s choice to live by hate or love.”

Of course Fisher’s recollection of that night’s events differed from that of other witnesses in the case. Heather Hillard, who lived in the adjoining duplex as the Fisher’s, 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.

In the end it came down to the jury. 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 awaited his sentencing hearing.