State prosecutors are seeking an arrest warrant from the governor in order to bring back to Vermont a man charged in a fatal Burlington shooting three years ago.
Alfred Wisher, 39, has been charged with second-degree murder after Khyann Jones, 28, died from complications nine months after Wisher allegedly shot him.
Police accuse Wisher of shooting Jones in the head on March 24, 2019, outside the apartment of Wisher’s girlfriend in Burlington.
Witnesses said Wisher went to the Clarke Street apartment that day looking for his girlfriend, who later told investigators she’d been in the process of breaking up with him and believed he was cheating on her. When Jones made a comment about Wisher’s having been at another woman’s home, Wisher allegedly shot him, according to Burlington police.
Jones, of Burlington, recovered after the shooting. But he died Dec. 30 from “pneumonia with sepsis-complicating brain injury” due to the gunshot wound, Burlington Detective Durwin Ellerman said in a sworn statement obtained from the court.
Wisher was originally charged with attempted second-degree murder. The charge was upgraded to murder in January, court records show. The crime carries a penalty of 20 years to life in prison.
Wisher, of Troy, New York, is currently detained in Georgia, where police say he was arrested in July 2019. He refused to waive an extradition hearing, which Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said has led to her office’s request for a governor’s warrant.
The warrant from Gov. Phil Scott would then be sent to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for approval before Wisher can be returned to Vermont, the state’s attorney said in an email. George said she does not know when the governor’s warrant will be issued or when Wisher can be brought back to be formally charged in court.
Immediately after the shooting, Burlington police said, Wisher fled the scene. He was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, in July 2019 and later charged with multiple federal crimes, including attempted robbery, carjacking and firearms offenses allegedly committed in Georgia that July, according to federal prosecutors.
He was found guilty at trial. In January, Wisher was sentenced to 53 years in prison. Federal authorities said Wisher previously served time in prison for a series of violent armed robberies in New York.
The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office, which receives governor’s warrants for the county once they’re ready to be served, said these warrants usually take 30 to 60 days to complete.
When Wisher’s warrant is ready, the sheriff’s office will coordinate with the U.S. Marshals Service on which law enforcement agency will return him to Vermont, said Capt. Bob Stebbins of the sheriff’s office.
Scott usually signs a governor’s warrant the same day he receives the paperwork, as long as everything is in order, said his spokesperson, Jason Maulucci. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office puts together the paperwork after prosecutors submit a request and the necessary information, he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Prosecutors seek to bring defendant in Burlington fatal shooting back to state.