Casselberry woman on trial for killing husband pleads guilty to murder: report

Sherry Fitzpatrick, accused in the 2021 shooting death of her husband in their Casselberry home, has offered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in court on Friday.

The plea would sentence her to 10 years in prison with credit of time served and 10 years probation, WESH-Channel 2 reported. Fitzpatrick, 59, was on trial for first-degree murder.

It has been two years since Fitzpatrick called Casselberry police to her home, telling them she found her husband, Timothy Fitzpatrick, dead on the bedroom floor. He was shot once in the abdomen and another time in the neck, with the gun later being found in a nightstand of the bedroom where he died.

According to police, Sherry Fitzpatrick initially told investigators she was in the couple’s detached mother-in-law suite, where she stayed after an argument with her husband the night before. But after investigators pointed out inconsistencies in her story, she admitted to firing two shots during an argument, an affidavit said.

Last November, her lawyer argued for the murder case to be dismissed, claiming Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. The attorney said Timothy Fitzpatrick had threatened to kill Sherry Fitzpatrick throughout their marriage, and that he attacked her before being shot twice.

A judge disagreed and denied the motion in April, arguing physical evidence and Sherry Fitzpatrick’s changing version of events didn’t support a self-defense argument.