For 57-year-old Harold Fish, traversing the entire state of Arizona was a life-long goal. The retired high school Spanish teacher began hiking before he married his wife Deborah in 1985 and he continued his trips over the years, as their family grew to include seven children.
Deborah Fish, Harold's wife, describes him as a loving family man. “His family is the most important thing to him,” she says. “[He has] the good old Boy Scout ethic, ‘You don’t lie, you don’t cheat, you’re honest, you always tell the truth.’”
For defense attorney Mel McDonald, “He was a wonderful citizen of the community… if we believe reasonably that we are about to lose our lives, we have the right to say no and to stop that threat. The state is trying to tell you. ‘Let’s label him a murderer’ for something he didn’t promote, he didn’t initiate. He was a victim.”
“I feel that I am an innocent man that stands before you today. I do not think the trial was fair,” said Fish after he received a guilty verdict and a 10-year prison sentence.
