Grant Fuhrman won’t testify at his trial for Oshkosh West High School attack

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) - It was a short day for his jury Thursday after Grant Fuhrman decided he won’t testify at his attempted-murder trial. Asked by the judge: “Mr. Mehlos, do you believe your client’s decision not to testify was done freely, voluntarily and intelligently?” Corey Mehlos, Fuhrman’s defense attorney, responded: “We’ve had extensive conversations with Grant about how this trial is going. He feels very good about our defense. He is confident, he doesn’t see the need to add anything by his testimony. I think he is making a knowing, informed and voluntary decision to not testify consistent with this constitutional rights.”

Fuhrman is charged with trying to kill Oshkosh police officer Mike Wissink, who was the liaison officer at Oshkosh West High School in December, 2019. Prosecutors say Fuhrman used a two-pronged barbecue knife to stab Wissink in his office. Fuhrman has contended he wasn’t trying to kill the officer during a struggle.

Jurors were ushered into the courtroom a little before 9 a.m. Thursday and dismissed shortly after 10 a.m. after hearing testimony from a state Division of Criminal Investigations agent who helped collect evidence inside Wissink’s office.

Jurors will return Friday morning at 8:30 to hear closing arguments.

The defense’s first witness Wednesday was Fuhrman’s mother, Tina Kintoph, who gave emotional testimony about her son’s successes and struggles when he was 16. He just got his first job, bought a car from his grandmother, and was a very social person who had a lot of friends. But she saw him withdraw after the death of his grandfather that November, who she said Grant had a special relationship with. He had also lost his birth father to suicide and was affected by seeing his father taken in a body bag. She said Fuhrman was “very clingy” and had a fear of fire trucks and ambulances.

The prosecution rested Tuesday after calling witnesses including Officer Wissink, who said he shot Fuhrman to stop the attack, and showing security video from the hallway outside his office during the struggle. State witnesses also included the teacher who rushed to the office after hearing gunshots and the trauma surgeon who treated both Wissink, who’d been stabbed, and Fuhrman, who’d been shot.

Action 2 News’s Brittany Schmidt has more details from the last day of defense testimony on Action 2 News at noon.

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