Aaron Fisher Appeals Manslaughter Conviction at Public Expense
The legal saga surrounding the death of 70-year-old Richard Madeo is far from over, and Clallam County taxpayers will continue to pay the price.
On April 14, 2026, defense attorney Lane Wolfley filed a Notice of Appeal, officially challenging Aaron Fisher’s recent manslaughter conviction and 90-month prison sentence.
According to an Order of Indigency signed by Judge Brent Basden the following day on April 15, Fisher has been deemed to lack sufficient funds to prosecute his appeal.
As a result, Judge Basden granted Fisher the right to seek review “wholly at public expense.”
Under the order, the public purse will cover all associated appellate costs for Fisher. This includes the waiving of filing fees, the preparation of verbatim reports of the trial proceedings, copies of the clerk’s papers, and the reproduction of legal briefs.
The court will also appoint appellate counsel for Fisher at the taxpayers’ expense.
A Growing Tab for a Controversial Defense
This latest order adds another layer of taxpayer burden to a trial already heavily scrutinized for its financial and ethical irregularities.
As we extensively reported, the defense of Aaron Fisher has been entangled in controversy since Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden hand-selected his close personal friend, Lane Wolfley, to represent Fisher.
Judge Basden and Wolfley share a deep personal and professional history. They are former law partners who operated under the banner of “Wolfley, Basden & Hansen,” and both have held high-ranking ecclesiastical positions within the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Their ties were once a point of pride for Wolfley, whose website, until 2016, openly marketed his association with “talented, capable attorneys” including “Brent Basden (Clallam County Family Court Commissioner).”
Such specific advertising raises unsettling questions about its intent, suggesting Wolfley may have leveraged the name of a sitting judicial officer to imply to prospective clients that hiring his firm came with an inside track to favorable court outcomes.
Today, however, Basden appears to be actively downplaying their relationship, having scrubbed Wolfley’s name from his past private practice on his professional LinkedIn resume.
Despite this public distancing, the cronyism continues in the courtroom. Court records reveal that since 2018, Judge Basden has presided over more than 80 cases involving Wolfley.
In the Fisher trial, Basden awarded Wolfley a taxpayer-funded contract at $250 per hour. This hourly rate was awarded on top of Wolfley’s existing $6,250-per-month conflict attorney contract with the county.
The appointment sparked intense public outcry, exacerbated by Wolfley’s documented history of severe professional misconduct—a history he once attempted to rebrand on his law firm’s website as a voluntary “retirement.”
In reality, the Washington State Bar Association suspended Wolfley for three years in 2005 after finding he had “knowingly and intentionally made sexual advances” toward a female client and subsequently lied under oath to investigators about the abuse.
Wolfley’s past also includes his office being raided by a narcotics task force in 2004 during a money-laundering investigation.
Despite this troubling record, Judge Basden entrusted Wolfley with a high-stakes murder defense, raising serious questions about whether personal loyalty has superseded judicial impartiality in Clallam County.
The Legal Battles Ahead
Fisher’s appeal seeks to overturn his conviction for First-Degree Manslaughter, which stemmed from a May 2025 incident at a Sequim fuel station where Fisher punched Madeo, leading to the elderly man’s death two days later.
The trial concluded in February under highly unusual circumstances.
During deliberations, the jury crossed out “Not Guilty” on the Verdict Form for Second-Degree Murder and explicitly wrote the word “hung.”
Rather than engaging in a formal colloquy or declaring a mistrial—which would have allowed the State to retry Fisher for the more serious offense—Judge Basden accepted the scribbled form as a finalized outcome.
Fisher was ultimately sentenced on March 31 to 90 months for manslaughter.
With Fisher’s Notice of Appeal now filed, the case moves to Division II of the Court of Appeals.
As the legal proceedings shift to higher courts, the residents of Clallam County are left to watch the tab grow. Between Wolfley’s $250 hourly trial rate, his ongoing monthly retainer, and now a fully subsidized appellate process, the financial and ethical costs continue to mount.
What is unfolding in this case is not just a legal matter — it is an ethical failure that the public cannot ignore.
The Madeo family has already endured the unimaginable: the violent loss of their loved one. They should not now be forced to watch their own tax dollars fund the appeal of the individual responsible for that death. Yet here we are. The family continues to grieve, while Mr. Fisher positions himself as the victim. He is alive. He is breathing. Mr. Madeo is not. He should still be here, living his life with his family. That reality seems to have been forgotten by those who are supposed to uphold justice.
What makes this even more disturbing is the ongoing relationship between Ms. Basden and Mr. Wofley — a relationship that raises clear ethical concerns in a case of this magnitude. The appearance of impropriety alone should have triggered immediate review. Instead, nothing has been done. No recusal. No inquiry. No accountability. The public is expected to simply accept this as normal.
It is not normal. It is not acceptable. And it is not justice.
When a system allows conflicts of interest to stand unaddressed, when it minimizes victims and shields insiders from scrutiny, it erodes public trust. It tells families like the Madeos that their suffering is secondary to the comfort and convenience of those within the system. That is truly disgraceful.
I urge this body — and every official with authority in this matter — to take these ethical concerns seriously. The public deserves transparency. The family deserves respect. And this community deserves a justice system that is worthy of the name.
Not surprised. Saw that coming down the pike when Mr Wofley was appointed as the killers attorney.