Public defender of Bossier City man charged with murder of unidentified victim speaks out
Fish, public defender for Hardy, says his client is shocked and dismayed by all of this, and that he “certainly adamantly says he did not murder anybody and doesn’t know what happened to Garrett Wilson.”
Last Tuesday, Fish said he was still gathering information about the case and has filed motions requesting a hearing in which investigators must present evidence leading to the charges. Based on that evidence, the judge can decide whether the defendant should be held over for trial or released. Fish said he expects a court date for that hearing could be set within a month.
In the case of second-degree murder – or any case that carries with it life in prison – however, the district attorney also must present the evidence to a grand jury, who then will decide whether to indict the suspect on the charge, issue lesser or elevated charges, or issue what is called ‘no true bill,’ in which the suspect is released.
In the meantime, Fish notes that his client is a former police officer and sheriff’s deputy with no prior criminal history, while Wilson “has spent a good portion of his adult life in prison for very serious crimes in and of itself make it different.”
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His attorney Randal Fish, who visited with Hardy Monday, said his client denies committing the murder. Fish questioned how Hardy – who accidentally shot himself in the leg last year and still uses a walker – could commit the murder.
“I’m having trouble imagining how this guy, in his ambulatory condition, could dismember a 6-foot, 200-something pound man and drag him” through a remote area, Fish said. “They’re going to have to show me.”
Fish said he suspects there’s much more to the case. Authorities have not said if they have other suspects.
