September 4, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
A DeKalb County man serving time in prison for voluntary manslaughter is scheduled for another parole hearing this month.
55-year-old Albert Wayne Fisher, Jr. has served over two and a half years of a six-year sentence in the fatal 2019 Halloween shooting of his stepson, 38-year-old Tyler Durden outside the Fisher home on Eckles Heights in Liberty.
Fisher’s first parole hearing was held, March 14, 2023 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville where he is incarcerated. Parole Board Chairman Richard Montgomery, who presided over the hearing, heard from Fisher as well as three supporters including his mother, and several family members along with the District Attorney General’s Office who was opposed to Fisher’s early release. Assistant DA Greg Strong participated in the hearing by video conference from Cookeville. Support and opposition letters were also in Fisher’s file.
The Board’s final decision from Fisher’s initial parole hearing was to decline parole due to the seriousness of the offense. Four concurring Board member votes were needed to reach the final decision. The Board scheduled another parole review for Mr. Fisher which, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction website will be Tuesday, September 24.
Fisher stood trial on November 17, 2021 on a charge of second-degree murder which carries a range of punishment as a Class A felony of 15-25 years, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter. The shooting occurred outside Fisher’s home on Eckles Heights in Liberty. Two months after the trial, Fisher was given the maximum prison term of six years for the crime by Judge Wesley Bray following a sentencing hearing in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
Fisher admitted firing the fatal shot but said he did it in self-defense because he felt threatened by the victim not knowing it was his stepson because he was wearing a Halloween disguise and never uttered a word. After the shooting, Durden was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital where he later died.