Busted!

FARGO – Former assistant U.S. attorney and local defense attorney Dennis Fisher has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a hunting knife from Sportsman’s Warehouse just before noon Friday.

A loss prevention officer spotted a man take a knife and confronted him outside the store, located at 4901 13th Ave. S., about 11:50 a.m. Friday, Fargo police Sgt. Jeff Skuza said.

The man, later identified as Fisher, refused to go back inside and pushed the employee to try to get away. A struggle ensued, spilling into neighboring Lowe’s Home Improvement, Skuza said.

The prevention officer was able to get one handcuff on Fisher, but an off-duty Barnes County sheriff’s deputy had to assist in getting the second handcuff on Fisher, who had to be physically restrained, Skuza said.

Fisher refused to identify himself on scene, but responding officers recognized the attorney, Skuza said. Fisher was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and disorderly conducted and booked into the Cass County Jail, Skuza said.

The highly regarded attorney is best known for helping prosecute four people in connection with the February 1983 shooting deaths of two federal marshals who were attempting to serve a warrant on tax protester Gordon Kahl. Fisher also was a prosecutor on the murder case of Eddie Peltier, a former Devils Lake, N.D., police officer who was found dead on North Dakota’s Fort Totten Indian Reservation in 1983.

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