Drive-by shooting suspect bound for attempted murder
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The defendant, Deonray J. Fisk, 26, was bound to the grand jury Tuesday by General Sessions Judge Larry Ross following a preliminary hearing. His bond was reduced to $200,000 from $800,000 after the court found the original bond was excessive.
Fisk is accused of shooting David Estrada after pulling alongside the truck in which he was a passenger on Sparta Highway on the evening of Dec. 23. Estrada said Fisk had confronted him and friends minutes earlier inside Wal-Mart, calling them “Loco Mexicans.” The victim said he was hit in the hip when the drive-by shooter fired into their truck.
In light of the incident, defense attorney Bob Peters questioned how lawmen knew it was his client who did the shooting when the men in the truck admitted not being able to see who opened fire on them.
Sheriff’s investigator Jim Hartman replied he could connect Fisk to the crime in several ways. First, Hartman said Fisk was found in possession of a similar caliber gun days later, which lawmen believe ballistics will prove was the gun. Also, Hartman said the night of the shooting Fisk had borrowed his father’s car which fit the description of the drive-by car. Hartman said a receipt from Wal-Mart was also found in the car fitting what Fisk admitted buying from the store the night in question. If that were not enough, Hartman said Fisk, while not confessing to the crime, did say he would “accept responsibility” for the shooting.
However, Peters attacked Hartman’s key piece of evidence, the shells found at the scene of the drive-by, saying finding such evidence in the pitch dark would be a near miracle.
“I could throw a beer can out the window out there and never find it again. It’s a big road,” Peters said. “How in the world could you find a single shell casing on that big road?”
Hartman responded it only took him a matter of minutes as he could see the brass shining on the road in his headlights. He and another deputy then were able to find the remaining brass once they knew they were in the right area.
Fisk could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder. He had been out of the penitentiary only a few months before the shooting after serving time for robbery.