The outside of a Presidio residence where a Kimberly Wong woman was found dead. Her boyfriend, Scott Fisher was charged with murdering her. He entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity just days before his murder trial was scheduled to begin.
Clare Fonstein/The Chronicle
A San Francisco tech worker accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity in San Francisco Superior Court Monday morning.
The plea change comes just days before a murder trial was set to begin against Scott Fisher. The San Francisco resident originally pleaded not guilty to allegations that he murdered his girlfriend, Kimberly Wong, in the Presidio Heights apartment they shared on Nov. 30, 2023.
Fisher previously faced 26 years to life in state prison if convicted. Now, Fisher will face two separate trials: the first to determine his guilt or innocence. If he is found guilty, there will be a second to assess whether he was legally insane at the time of the attack.
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On Monday, Judge Gloria Rhynes, appointed two psychological experts to interview Fisher. Fisher’s two trials were expected to take place after the experts submit their findings to the court. More than a dozen of Wong’s family, friends and legal advocates appeared in court Monday. Only one person, a man, appeared in support of the defendant. Fisher waved to him and smiled after the hearing concluded.
During Fisher’s preliminary hearing last year, witnesses testified that Wong expressed fear over her boyfriend’s “erratic” behavior in the week leading up to the attack, which included him lunging at her while she was in the shower. On the day before she died, Wong told friends that she awoke to Fisher “shaking her.” That morning, she drove Fisher to her father’s house in Oakland and slept at her friend’s house.
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Wong’s friends told police, who later testified that they observed a “mental deterioration” in Fisher and concerning changes in his behavior, saying he had become increasingly paranoid, particularly about artificial intelligence.
On that morning of the attack — after the two had slept separately — Wong picked him up from his father’s house, believing him to be more stable. But after the two returned home to their Clay Street apartment, she didn’t respond to texts or phone calls from friends, police said.
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After hours of trying to reach her, they called the police.
While performing a wellness check that Wong’s friends requested, police said they entered the apartment through an open window and found Wong covered by a blanket, cold to the touch. A large chef’s knife lay just a few inches away from her body. No one was home, police said.
Ring camera footage showed the couple entering the building at 10:49 a.m. At 11:17 a.m., Fisher walked out of the building, police said. Less than an hour later, he entered the building again, and three minutes later, he exited the building for the final time.
Forensic evidence found strong support for Fisher’s DNA on the knife’s grip and Wong’s DNA on the knife’s blade.
Police did not say where Fisher went after surveillance footage captured him exiting his apartment. But they testified that his father later took him to the emergency room, where he was placed on a psychiatric hold. He was arrested a week later at John Muir Behavioral Center in Concord.
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Fisher’s defense attorneys, Sarah Potter and Michael Gaines, originally suggested Wong could have been killed by an intruder. In the preliminary hearing, they argued that the apartment building had another entryway that was not monitored by a video camera and that the couple had no “known history” of domestic violence.
The two sides were expected to reconvene in early May to review the psychological reports.