CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Testimony is underway in the trial for a Kanawha County woman accused fatally stabbing a woman in September 2018 in Sissonville.
Opening statements and witnesses took to the stand Tuesday for the murder trial of Cynthia Gatewood, 32, of Nitro. She is charged with the first-degree murder of 57-year-old Cheryl Fisher, of Charleston.
Authorities previously said Gatewood allegedly stabbed Fisher twice in the back during a brief argument in the parking lot of The Tobacco Shop in Sissonville.
“This case is about Cheryl Fisher. She was a mother, she was a grandmother, she was a caregiver in our community,” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Maryclaire Akers told the jury during opening statements.
“This is about Cynthia Gatewood ending her life on Sept. 25, 2018. This is about how it happened and this is about holding her accountable.”
Investigators previously told MetroNews that Gatewood waited outside the store for Fisher to leave and then attacked her. Akers told the jury that surveillance footage will show that statement and that is exactly why she needs to be found guilty of murder in the first-degree.
“When she (Gatewood) is waiting, Cheryl Fisher buys what she needs and heads back out of the store and she makes it to her car. She opens her car door and Cynthia Gatewood gets out of the truck after making the decision that she is mad at Cheryl Fisher,” Akers said.
Richard Holicker, Gatewood’s defense attorney, told the jury the case “is a puzzle.” He said Fisher and Gatewood did not know each other prior to that day.
“The puzzle is not who stabbed Cheryl Fisher. I think the state laid out factually what happened. Cynthia Gatewood, there is no question, stabbed Cheryl Fisher leading to her death. The puzzle is why and solving that puzzle will lead to your eventual verdict,” he said.
Holicker also said drugs were a factor in Gatewood’s decision making.
“I believe that once the evidence is in and the judge instructs you on the law, you will come to see that this drug use factors into whether Miss Gatewood is guilty of first-degree murder as the state will ask you to convict her of, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or not guilty,” he said.
West Virginia state code states that first-degree murder is defined as murder by poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, or by any willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or in the commission of, or attempt to commit, arson, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, breaking and entering, escape from lawful custody, or a felony offense of manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance.
The trial marks the first to be held in Kanawha County since the coronavirus pandemic halted court proceedings in March. It’s being held in the ceremonial courtroom of the old Kanawha County Courthouse.
The jury was selected on Monday. The first witness to take the stand in the trial was Fisher’s daughter.