NEWPORT, R.I. — The sentencing of Ronald Fischer, the former anesthesiologist who fled his own rape trial in Newport two decades ago and spent more than 20 years on the run, has been pushed back so his defense can have him evaluated for schizophrenia.
Fischer, 70, had been due back in Superior Court in Newport for sentencing on Nov. 2. A judge granted the defense request for a continuance on Friday over the objection of prosecutors. Defense attorney Gary Pelletier said the team has hired psychologist Paul Zeizel to determine whether Fischer has the illness now or had it at the time of the 2003 assault. Zeizel recently testified for the defense in the Massachusetts murder trial of Lindsay Clancy.
Pelletier said a diagnosis could be a major mitigating factor. He has said prosecutors are seeking 50 years in prison, and he believes a finding of schizophrenia could bring the sentence down to about 15 years, near the bottom of the guidelines. The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment because it does not discuss ongoing cases.
Court filings show the evaluation should be finished by Nov. 23. If the state decides to have its own expert examine Fischer, the sentencing hearing will move to Feb. 24, 2027. If not, it is set for Dec. 18.
Jurors found Fischer guilty in absentia in 2005 of first-degree sexual assault for attacking a woman on his boat while it was docked in Portsmouth. He disappeared partway through that trial and spent years living under false names, at one point posing as a cancer doctor and landing jobs in the biotech field. The woman has since filed a civil lawsuit against him.
He was caught in July on his sailboat, The Silver Lining, in the waters off New York City, after a manhunt by federal marshals and a fugitive task force working with the FBI and the Coast Guard. He was arrested on a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
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