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Fiske to face death penalty; judge sets bond at $100,000

By Lisa Majors-Duff
Christina Marie Fiske

Christina Fiske

 If the state proves Christina Marie Fiske murdered her newborn daughter, the state will ask a jury to sentence her to death.

But prior to a trial, Fiske could be released on a $100,000 bond, a figure set Wednesday during a hearing before Judge J. Marlene Hyatt.

Law enforcement officers charged Fiske with first-degree murder after an infant was discovered at the Macon County Landfill on Feb. 28. They say Fiske, a graduate of Franklin High School, gave birth to the full-term baby girl Feb. 26 in a Cullowhee apartment after hiding her pregnancy from family and friends.

An autopsy showed the child was alive at birth and was then intentionally suffocated. Hemorrhaging was noted about the child's neck and chest areas. The child's umbilical cord had been cut.

At a hearing March 9 before Judge Hyatt, Assistant District Attorney Alan Leonard said the baby's death was "heinous, atrocious and cruel," all of which will be used as aggravating factors in the case against the 21-year-old Western Carolina University sophomore.
More than 100 members of Fiske's church, First United Methodist in Franklin, filled the courtroom Wednesday in support of the young woman. The defense called eight witnesses to the stand to talk about Fiske, including her mother and father.

"My daughter is a person who would not knowingly do anything wrong," Lenaire Harrison said from the stand. "She is a loving daughter very involved in her family and her community."

On cross examination by the prosecution, Harrison said she did not notice her daughter was pregnant and that her conduct never changed during that time.

As agrument against setting a bond for Fiske, Assistant District Attorney Monica Leslie said the defendent had no incentative to return to be tried. Her parents testified that they are financially stable, indicating their ability to assist their daughter to flee, she said.

Fiske also misled investigators by inventing a person named "Amy," who might have been responsible for the crime, Leonard said. If the jury finds Fiske guilty of first-degree murder, they will be given the death penalty as an option to consider for her sentence, he said.

Arguing for his client, Randy Seago, Fiske's court-appointed attorney, said nothing in her past would indicate her to be a flight risk. In fact, witnesses for Fiske, including her high school English teacher, band director and principal, her youth pastor and her first cousin, all described her as a person you could rely on to do the right thing. Several letters in support of Fiske were also entered into the record.

Upon meeting the financial conditions of the bond, Fiske will further be required to live with her mother and grandmother in Brevard and report in person to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department weekly, Judge Hyatt said.

Fiske was indicted March 6 by a Jackson County grand jury on charges of murder, concealing the birth of a child and felony child abuse inflicting serious injury.

Prosecutors say the trial could be held in late summer or early fall.

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