Deaf Fugitive Homicide Suspect Denied Bail

Mavrick William Fisher, 21, of Elko, Nevada, is charged with the murder of Grant David Whitaker, 25, of Mackinaw, Illinois.

LAKEPORT, California -- A man who authorities said bludgeoned his traveling companion to death at a Humboldt County campground before dumping the body in Lake County has made his first appearance in Lake County Superior Court.

Mavrick William Fisher, 21, who has connections to both Elko, Nevada, and Riverside, was arraigned on Friday afternoon in Judge J. David Markham’s courtroom in Lakeport. Fisher is charged with the murder of 25-year-old Grant David Whitaker, of Mackinaw, Illinois, during an altercation that investigators say occurred in Humboldt County.

The Daily Moth is a radio show, delivers news in video using American Sign Language. The Deaf host, Alex Abenchuchan, covers the story of Mavrick Fisher’s first court appearance in murder case in Lakeport, California.

The two men, both of them Deaf, were reported to be traveling cross country together to California when a disagreement occurred, leading to the fatal confrontation, according to District Attorney Susan Krones.

Read More: Deaf Illinois Man's Remains Found In California

Authorities say Fisher later brought the body to Lake County, where it was discovered on Monday near Upper Lake, as Lake County News has reported.

Earlier this week, Fisher was taken into custody by authorities in Rosarito, Mexico, where he fled after Whitaker’s murder. They assisted with getting him back to the United States, and he was booked into the Lake County jail on Wednesday afternoon.

Krones, who appeared in court to handle the case on Friday, has charged Fisher with murder; assault with a deadly weapon, with the weapon in this case being a rock, and a special allegation of inflicting great bodily injury; willfully and maliciously removing and keeping possession of the 2011 Chevrolet Impala that Whitaker had been driving and which was on loan from his grandmother in Illinois; and unlawfully taking the car after the murder.

While the murder is believed to have occurred at Richardson Grove State Park in Humboldt County, Krones told Lake County News that Lake County has jurisdiction over the case because Whitaker’s body was located here.

She cited California Penal Code section 790, which gives jurisdiction for a murder or manslaughter case to “the county where the fatal injury was inflicted or in the county in which the injured party died or in the county in which his body was found.”

Read More: Mavrick Fisher's Mental Disorder To Homicide

Krones said she has spoken to Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming, who has asked Krones to handle the case in Lake County. At the same time, both Lake County and Humboldt County investigators are working the case. On Friday, the court assigned Tom Feimer, a defense attorney with the county’s indigent defense contract, to represent Fisher.

Fisher, wearing a jail jumpsuit and sitting in the jury box along with several other individuals awaiting arraignment, also was provided the assistance of an interpreter at Friday’s court appearance.

Read More: Deaf Homicide Mavrick Fisher Pleads Not Guilty

Outside the courtroom, two women – one older, one younger with a baby – were waving and gesturing at Fisher and holding up the baby so it could be seen through the courtroom door window. A bailiff who admitted them to the courtroom warned them against trying to communicate with Fisher, a normal admonishment for family members in attendance at court proceedings. Read The Full Story.

SOURCE - Lake County News

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Related Deaf News:
Deaf Man Commits Brutal Murder in America: ISH News
Mavrick Fisher’s First Court Appearance in Murder Case: The Daily Moth
Autopsy Reveals Cause of Deaf Man’s Death: Sign1News
Mavrick Fisher Pleads Not Guilty To Murder: The Daily Moth
Deaf Man Pleads Not Guilty in Grant Whitaker Death: SignNews

Controversy on Social Media Platform in Deaf Community:
Grant Whitaker/Maverick Fisher: “Mental Disorders & Exorcist”
Mav Martin Fisher/Grant Whitaker: Can We Understand Stigma?
Deaf Counseling Center: Grant Whitaker and Maverick Fisher
Ridor9th - You Did It All
Wesley Arey - Show Some Respect

Related Mavrick Fisher & Grant Whitaker:
Deaf Illinois Man's Remains Found In California
Mavrick Fisher's Mental Disorder To Homicide
Deaf Fugitive Homicide Suspect Denied Bail
Deaf Homicide Mavrick Fisher Pleads Not Guilty
Mavrick Fisher's Preliminary Hearing For Murder

Related Posts: #DeafNews - #DeafCrime - #DeafVictims - #MurderSuspect

Deaf Woman Loses Legal Battle To Be Juror

Deaf woman loses High Court bid to serve on jury in Australia, claims “a smack in the face” for the Deaf community.

BRISBANE, AU -- The Independent: The High Court in Australia has ruled to deny a woman the chance to become the country’s first Deaf jury member, a decision she later described as “a smack in the face” for the Deaf community.

In 2012, a registrar told Gaye Lyons from Queensland she should be excused from jury duty as a sign language interpreter could not be sworn into the conference room, according to state law.

The 69-year-old can lip read but needs an interpreter to communicate, and decided to take her case against the Queensland government to the High Court.

The court decided to uphold state law and said the presence of an interpreter in a deliberation room would cause “an incurable irregularity” which could affect the outcome of a case, resulting in the dismissal of Ms Lyons’ appeal.

Queensland attorney general Yvette D’Ath said the confidentiality of jury deliberations and the right to a fair trial were “among the most fundamental tenets of Australia’s justice system”, according to AP Australia.

"We're the same as everybody else, we're human, we have kids, we go to work, we drive cars, we pay mortgages - I was just fuming because I could not have equal access to this," Ms Lyons told reporters outside court.

"Why should the powers that be decide what's right for me, why should they decide what I can and can't do? It just made me livid, I was seething about the whole thing.”

Ms Lyons has repeatedly cited her detailed interest in the law and said jury duty was “something I really wanted to take part in”.

"After five years of struggle, just fighting for access for the Australian Deaf community, it felt like a slap in the face.”

"For them [the High Court] to say that interpreters could not relay information accurately, that was the living end, that was the last straw for me. Deaf people should not be treated differently. The High Court does not see that,” she added.

In 2011, a Deaf woman served on an inquest jury in the United Kingdom after several legal challenges found Deaf people can fully comprehend courtroom discourse and jury deliberations through interpreters.

Exemptions for Deaf people carrying out jury service in criminal trials were removed in Ireland and the UK after legal challenges during the 2000s. In the United States, they have been serving on juries since 1979.

New Zealand is another country where sign language interpreters are employed by courts to help Deaf jurors contribute to trials.

SOURCE - Independent

Deaf Woman Allegedly Raped By Two Irish Men

Profoundly Deaf woman allegedly raped by two men in caravan through a social media site in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

BELFAST -- A profoundly Deaf woman was allegedly raped by two men in a caravan after arranging a meeting over social media, a court heard today.

Police claimed one of the pair had manipulated and coerced her into getting a taxi to the traveller site in west Belfast. The woman has also alleged her drink may have been spiked during the incident on the Glen Road early last Friday.

David Spence, 18, and Francis Gavin, 23, appeared before magistrates in the city accused of carrying out the sex attack. Both men deny charges of rape, insisting all contact with the woman in her thirties was consensual.

Spence, a trainee joiner from Ardcaoin Avenue in the Dunmurry area, was granted bail on conditions that include a ban on accessing computers. But Gavin, of Glen Road Heights in Belfast, remains in custody while checks are carried out on proposed addresses.

A judge was told the woman had been in contact with Spence through a social media site before a meeting was arranged. Describing her as vulnerable, an investigating detective said she made it clear that she was not interested in having sex at the encounter.

The officer claimed Spence had ignored requests to come to her house, instead arranging for a taxi to bring her to the Glen Road traveller encampment. Following the alleged attack he said she left the caravan and walked a quarter of a mile down a lane in the dark before reporting the incident at the first house with lights on.

Defence barrister Tom McCreanor, for Spence, put it to the officer that his client and the woman had "intimate and suggestive" social media exchanges before meeting.

The detective replied: "She does mention she likes sex. However, she is saying that's within a long-term relationship." Photographs were also sent between her and Spence, the court heard. Asked if the woman's vulnerability related to a hearing issue, the officer said: "This lady is profoundly Deaf."

He also claimed: "From the content of text messages there was bit of manipulation or coercion." But Mr McCreanor argued that his client had been in "consensual and encouraged communication" with the woman.

He told the court she willingly got a taxi to the caravan and was never prevented from leaving.

Granting bail for Spence to return to court in four weeks, District Judge Fiona Bagnall ordered him to live with his parents under curfew. He was banned from using mobile phones, computers and accessing social media sites, and must not go near either the alleged victim's home or the traveller site.

Gavin also faces unrelated charges of common assault, criminal damage to a window and possession of a knuckle duster over an incident on January 25.

Defence solicitor Eamon O'Connor stressed his client is not accused of making any of the arrangements to meet the alleged rape victim.

"He was at the site when the alleged injured party arrived," Mr O'Connor said. "He made the case in ten interviews that any contact between himself and this lady was entirely by consent."

During cross-examination the detective confirmed the woman claimed her drink may have been spiked. Forensic tests are still being carried out to establish if there is any substance to her concerns. But with police claiming Gavin has used six addresses in the last five years, his bail application was adjourned for further checks on where he might live if released.

SOURCE - BELFASTLIVE

Deaf Sex Predator Jailed For Probation Violation

Released sex predator straight back in jail for breaching his parole after he had posed online as a young woman.

CHRISTCHURCH, NZ -- An online sex predator has lasted just one week after his release from prison before ending up straight back in custody for contacting one of his victims by text message.

Cameron Stuart Hore, 30, was released on bail on October 22 but pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching his parole before Judge Murray Hunt in the Christchurch District Court today.

Judge Hunt remanded him to next Thursday for sentence on the breach charge, but in the meantime the Probation Service would be applying for his recall to prison anyway.

Craig Ruane appeared as defence counsel for today's appearance.

Hore was jailed for four years and one month on July 4, 2012, after being held for a long time in custody on remand on 12 charges which he eventually admitted.

He had posed online as a young woman named Sarah Ruddenklau - including posting a picture of a young woman - to carry out sexual exploitation of his young victims.

He was sentenced in the High Court on two charges of blackmail, two of obtaining credit by deception, and eight of sexual exploitation or attempted sexual exploitation.

Hore is Deaf and a sign language interpreters helped him in court today.

The victims were found after police seized Hore's computer after a complaint and analysed just one month of the the 9306 chat logs accumulated over 15 months from September 2009 to November 2010. Nine of the 14 victims traced from that month were willing to talk to the police.

Crown prosecutor Pip Currie said then it had been premeditated and planned offending using false identities to obtain personal details.

The offending occurred on the Internet, and by text, and there was sexual offending on occasions when face-to-face contact occurred... Read The Full Story.

Courtroom Sign Language Prohibited Raise Concerns

Maryland courtroom sign language restrictions raise concerns, only the official interpreters and trial participants are allowed to use ASL.

FREDERICK, MD -- A judge in the trial of a Deaf man is prohibiting signing among the audience, a move that has raised concerns among some in the Deaf community.

Clarence Taylor III, who is Deaf, is accused of inappropriately touching Maryland School for the Deaf students when he was a student life counselor and dormitory aide at the school's Columbia campus. MSD also has a campus in Frederick.

Judge William Tucker of Howard County Circuit Court prohibited signs and "facial gestures" among spectators at Taylor's trial, according to a report from Capital News Service.

Only the four official courtroom interpreters and trial participants communicating with them will be allowed to sign and gesture in the courtroom.

Some advocates for the Deaf took issue with the way the decision singled out American Sign Language.

Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, said in a statement that the NAD understands the need to preserve order in the courtroom, but any restriction on communication needs to be applied evenly in any language to all spectators.

"The judge's order in this case appears to impose restrictions solely on Deaf and Hard of Hearing spectators and is unacceptable," he said.

David Martin, an assistant professor who manages ASL studies at Frederick Community College, is an MSD alumnus and has been following the trial.

He said that it would be difficult for a Deaf person to avoid making gestures.

“From my perspective, you know, with a Deaf person, It's going to be a challenge for a Deaf person to have no expressions and no signing,” Martin said through an ASL interpreter.

Still, Martin said the judge's decision was fair as long as hearing people were subject to the same restrictions... Read The Full Story.

Related:
Verdict In Maryland Deaf School Sex Abuse Case
Maryland School For The Deaf Abuse Sex Case
Courtroom Sign Language Prohibited Raise Concerns
Deaf Aide Teacher Charged With Sexual Abuse
Maryland Court Reverses Deaf Sex Conviction

New York Judge Accused of Molested Deaf Niece

Former Onondaga County family court judge Bryan R. Hedges is accused of sexually abusing his 5-year-old Deaf niece 40 years ago.

SYRACUSE, New York -- Ellen Cantwell Warner, the suspected victim in this case, spoke out at Vera House in Syracuse Thursday.

"An experience like this would be difficult for any child growing up, but it is especially difficult for a Deaf child, whose communication is limited. He preyed on my deafness," says Warner.

"40 years of trauma have finally come to an end. I am at peace. The truth has set me free. I feel like a butterfly that has finally emerged."... Read more: https://cnycentral.com/news/story.