Montrose – Jason Fiske, one of two men accused of killing an openly gay Montrose man in July, pleaded not guilty this morning to a first-degree murder charge.
A two-week trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 29, 2007.
Fiske and 21-year-old Adam Hernandez were charged with murder after Kevin Hale’s body was found in a Montrose park on July 31, 2005.
Hernandez told authorities that he jumped on Hale from behind and that Fiske then put Hale in a chokehold. An autopsy report showed Hale died of strangulation.
Hernandez, Fiske and Hale had been at the same nearby pub the night before, and Hernandez said he told Fiske he wanted to beat up Hale because Hale had made sexual advances toward him. Hernandez reached a plea agreement last month, and was sentenced to serve six years for manslaughter and two years for theft.
Fiske arrived in court today in a wheelchair after spraining his ankle in jail. Except for short “yes, sirs” and “no, sirs,” in response to questions from the judge, he did not speak.
His mother, sister and brother were in court, but declined to comment. His attorney, former prosecutor Dan Hotsenpiller, also declined comment.
Larry DeVinny, Hale’s uncle, said the trial would be a good thing, even though it would start nearly 18 months after his nephew’s death.
“The truth will come out,” DeVinny said.” I think it will be proven as a hate crime.”
Prosecutors to date have declined to ask for hate crime sentence enhancements.
