The case for Jamesine Fischer, the woman accused of killing 76-year-old Francoise Pecquer in a hit-and-run accident last November, has been pushed back to January.

Fischer’s attorney, Steven Alexander, requested a continuance of the case at a pretrial hearing Wednesday, saying that had about 20 more depositions scheduled in addition to the 25 to 28 he has already taken while forming his case.

Fischer, the wife of Flagler County School Board member John Fischer, was driving her car through Palm Coast’s C-section at 6 p.m. Nov. 10, when the front of her vehicle struck Pecquer, who was walking on the east shoulder of Columbia Lane.

Fischer failed to notify emergency personnel about the crash, later saying she thought she had struck an animal.

Fischer, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, pled not guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death, which is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano agreed to push the case back, but set a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 18, to check the status of the case and set a trial date.

Zambrano, who is leaving Flagler County at the end of the year, will not preside over the trial. The case will go to his replacement, Circuit Judge J. David Walsh.

Miller trial delayed until November
The case for Paul Miller has also been delayed, with a hearing set for Nov. 28. Miller is accused of shooting and killing his neighbor, Dana Mulhall, in March.

“We’re moving very, very fast on this case,” said Doug Williams, the attorney representing Miller, at a pretrial hearing Wednesday. “The first of the year would be a reasonable time to go to trial.”

Williams said a plethora of witnesses is delaying the formation of his case. After the pretrial hearing Wednesday, Williams said he has taken at least 30 depositions and has more scheduled in November.

Miller faces charges of second-degree murder. On Mar. 14, Mulhall returned home just after 6 p.m., and got into an argument about Miller’s barking dog. The two have had arguments in the past.

Miller told Flagler Beach Police that Mulhall made a gesture he interpreted as threatening. After conducting an investigation, the State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement established that Miller brought out a 9mm handgun.

Miller fired five shots, three of which hit Mulhall. Miller was not initially arrested because of questions of whether Mulhall’s gesture were threatening.

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