HikeArizona.COM

Jul. 21, 2009 06:50 PM
The Arizona Republic
Though his legal ordeal is not over, a retired Tolleson teacher whose murder conviction was overturned walked out of prison Tuesday to hugs from his family after serving three years of a 10-year sentence.

Harold Fish, 62, left the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis near Buckeye where he was incarcerated for the fatal shooting of Grant Kuenzli, 43, on a forest trail north of Payson in May 2004. Fish claimed self-defense, and there were no witnesses.

As Fish was being set free, the Arizona Attorney General's Office announced plans to challenge the Arizona Court of Appeals ruling last month that overturned Fish's second-degree murder conviction. The Attorney General will ask the Arizona Supreme Court to review the case, said Steve Wilson, a spokesman for Attorney General Terry Goddard.

“We disagree with the Court of Appeals' decision, particularly its ruling that the trial court should have allowed testimony about other acts of violence by the victim that were unknown to the defendant at the time of the killing,” Wilson said in a prepared statement. “We hope the Arizona Supreme Court will grant a review and uphold the jury's verdict.”

Fish's self-defense case has rippled through Arizona's legal and political arena and drawn national attention. It led to a change in Arizona's self-defense law, putting the burden of proof in such cases on the prosecutor.

The Arizona Supreme Court review could restore the Coconino County Superior Court jury verdict or choose to let the appellate court decision stand.

Fish will remain free while that is decided.

Fish was greeted late Tuesday morning with hugs outside the prison by his wife, Debora, and six of their seven children.

Fish picked up his youngest daughter, Marian, 5, who said, “Daddy, can we go fishing?”

Fish, dressed in jeans, black cowboy boots and a blue plaid shirt, held a short news conference, describing how it felt to be walking out of prison:

“Of course (I feel) joy and elation, but a sense of sadness … that three years of my life were wasted and taken when they shouldn't have been.”

Fish said he was looking forward to having a good meal for the first time in three years. To Kuenzli's family, Fish said: “I'm sorry. I never wanted to shoot him or anybody else … I wish he hadn't forced the issue.”

Fish was completing a hike May 11, 2004, when he encountered Kuenzli and Kuenzli's snarling dogs. He fired a warning shot that scared away the dogs, but then Kuenzli charged at him, Fish said.

The Arizona Court of Appeals, in overturning the jury verdict, said that the Coconino County Superior Court Judge Mark Moran erred by not allowing testimony about previous acts of violence involving Kuenzli. Debora Fish said she was not surprised that the Attorney General was appealing the appellate decision.

“He gets to come home, but the fight isn't over yet,” she said. Kuenzli's sister, Linda Almeter in Quincy, Ill., said she was unhappy that Fish was set free, saying he never took responsibility for his violent actions.

“My brother can never reclaim his life,” she said, adding that his character has been maligned by “Internet assailants” writing in online message boards about the shooting.

“Now that Mr. Fish is out of prison, I hope they will let my brother rest in peace,” Almeter said. “He's been dead for five years.”