Managing partner: Lawyer asked about firm, Knights Templar before knife attack; wife played dead
Andrew Schmuhl (Fairfax County Police)
The harrowing Nov. 9 attack began when a man claiming to be from the Virginia SEC forced his way into the home of a law firm managing partner and his wife, the victimized couple testified at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday for the two lawyers charged in the incident.
Leo Fisher, the managing partner of Bean, Kinney & Korman in Arlington, Virginia, said his attacker shot him with a stun gun and then used zip ties to bind him and his wife, Susan Duncan. Before the ordeal was over, the attacker slit Fisher’s throat, fired a gun at Duncan, grazing her head, and repeatedly stabbed Duncan when she tried to reach a phone, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing in Fairfax County. The Washington Post, WTOP, CBSDC and WUSA9 have stories.
“It finally occurred to me that I needed to play dead,” Duncan testified. The attack ended when Duncan was able to activate an alarm.
Fisher said he eventually recognized his attacker as Andrew Schmuhl, the husband of Alecia Schmuhl, a lawyer recently fired from the law firm. At the conclusion of the hearing, a judge determined there was enough evidence for a trial of Alecia and Andrew Schmuhl, charged with abduction and malicious wounding in the attack.
Fisher said Andrew Schmuhl wore a long coat and a hat with a wide brim, apparently an effort to disguise his identity. Schmuhl told Fisher he was there to check on an email about a bounty placed on the head of a drug cartel member, though Fisher had never sent such an email, Fisher testified. According to Fisher, Schmuhl asked whether there was cash in the home and asked about the Knights Templar. Schmuhl also forced Fisher to log into his work email and appeared upset when he didn’t seem to find what he wanted.
Though Alecia Schmuhl was not inside the home, Duncan testified that she saw Andrew Schmuhl communicate with a woman outside the home. Prosecutors say calls Andrew Schmuhl made during the attack were to Alecia Schmuhl, and surveillance video shows Alecia Schmuhl buying the stun gun. She is alco accused of driving the getaway car.
The Schmuhls both attended Valparaiso University Law School. Andrew Schmuhl is a former judge advocate in the Army who was out of work since he suffered a back injury in the service.
Wrong word in second paragraph was corrected at 11:30 a.m.
