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for Part in Winchell Murder |
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Compiled by GayToday
Previously Fischer had been charged with goading the actual murderer to commit the act. By means of plea bargaining, however, he was able to erase charges of premeditation and of being an accessory to murder. He was therefore sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison for lying to Army investigators about his involvement in the murder, which included the washing of a bloody bat that had been used against the murdered man as he slept. Fischer will be eligible for parole in four years. He will be imprisoned at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Winchell's mother and stepfather denounced the verdict. They could not understand, said Pat and Wally Kutteles, why the Army at first had charged Fisher to stand trial after he admitted to goading Pvt. Calvin N. Glover, 19, to murder their son and had then eliminated the most serious charges.
A Nashville-based defense psychiatrist, Keith Caruso, told the court he'd diagnosed Specialist Fisher as an alcoholic with a cross-dressing fetish. Though he harbored no homosexual inclinations, Fischer was given to wearing women's lingerie under his clothing and had found that his fetish not only aroused him but that it had made him feel more comfortable as well. Fischer's fetish had apparently developed as he grew up among three sisters vying for the attentions of their mother. He'd hoped to be "one of the girls,'' the psychiatrist said. C. Dixon Osburn, co-executive director of the Service Members Legal Defense Network, called Fischer's light sentence "a travesty." "We're left with huge questions about why Ft. Campbell cut this deal," he said. |
A soldier who hid evidence in the murder of PFC Barry Winchell (above) was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison 
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