2020-10-09 Dudas

Murder of Peter Fischer

Overview

Peter Christophe Fischer, 34, was stabbed to death on the evening of Friday, October 9, 2020, during a confrontation in a parking lot on Amarillo Boulevard. John Richard Dudas, 38 — a mechanic who owned a shop across the street and had gone to investigate a transient bothering guard dogs at a neighboring auto-glass business — stabbed Fischer in the neck with a pocketknife, severing his carotid artery. Dudas was arrested on October 13, 2020, and charged with murder.

At trial, Dudas claimed self-defense, testifying that Fischer had threatened to kill him, swung a chain at him, and dragged him from his car before he lunged with the knife. The trial court instructed the jury on self-defense (including deadly force) but refused Dudas's requested instructions on the defenses of necessity and duress. A jury rejected the self-defense claim and convicted Dudas of murder, assessing 15 years' imprisonment. The conviction was affirmed by the Seventh Court of Appeals in 2025 and by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2026, the latter issuing a significant holding that a deadly-force self-defense instruction precludes a separate necessity instruction.

People involved

Background

Dudas owned a mechanic shop across the street from an auto-glass dealership where he had formerly worked. The glass business kept guard dogs in its yard at night to deter burglars, and Dudas — whom the shop's co-owners described as someone who "loves the dogs; the dogs love" him and "loves those dogs like his own kids" — had been given a key to the gate so he could care for the dogs. Dudas stood five feet four and a half inches tall and weighed 127 pounds. He had previously served less than three years in prison in New Jersey for, among other things, controlled-substance offenses, and had successfully completed parole.

The incident

On the evening of Friday, October 9, 2020, Dudas drove to his shop in his wife's car. Around 9:30–10:00 p.m., a transient — later identified as Fischer — crossed the street toward the glass dealership, where a car nearly struck him. An autopsy later found measurable levels of Delta-9 THC (the principal psychoactive ingredient of marijuana) and alcohol in Fischer's system. Fischer was five feet eight and a half inches tall and weighed 175 pounds, visibly larger than Dudas even to an eyewitness standing roughly 100 yards away at a nearby taco stand.

Hearing the guard dogs "going crazy," Dudas drove to the glass shop to investigate — something he had done before when people harassed the dogs. He flicked his headlights and got out of the car, making hand signals toward Fischer and asking what he was doing. According to Dudas, Fischer walked toward him and snarled, "fuck you, I'll kick your fucking ass" and "I'm going to fucking kill you." Dudas, who believed Fischer to be a methamphetamine user, testified that Fischer reached toward his waistband — where, an officer acknowledged, Texans commonly carry firearms — and that he feared Fischer might have associates nearby.

Fischer, still wearing a backpack, swung a thin chain at Dudas, and then swung it again at Dudas's head; Dudas ducked, and the chain left a visible mark on his car. The chain, later recovered by police, was a wallet chain weighing 4.8 ounces that stretched to about 34 inches, with a heavy clasp. Dudas retreated and got back into his vehicle — he testified he "jumped backwards into the vehicle" to "call the cops and get the hell out of there."

A slightly-over-two-minute surveillance video from a camera across the street, played for the jury, showed blurred figures; it depicted Fischer backing away and then rushing back at the car several times, including after Dudas retreated. On his final rush, Dudas testified, Fischer struck the chain against the A-pillar of the vehicle, said "F you. You ain't going nowhere, bitch," grabbed Dudas by his left leg, and dragged him out of the car onto the asphalt.

The stabbing

Dudas was carrying a pocketknife with a blade of around three inches or less. After being pulled from the car, he got up and lunged at Fischer with the knife. He testified that in the darkness he believed he had struck Fischer in "the bicep or lung area, chest area." In fact, the blade reached Fischer's neck. A forensic pathologist testified that the knife was "impaled and then twisted" — "not a single cut, but a cut and then, like, a cutting in an angle" — creating a wound roughly an inch and a half to an inch and three-quarters deep and just over an inch long, severing Fischer's carotid artery. When asked whether he had any option other than using the knife, Dudas answered, "No, sir, I did not."

Dudas testified that Fischer then walked away and did not appear injured; had Dudas known Fischer was wounded, he said, he would have called the police. The eyewitness, however, described Fischer staggering away "full of blood" toward the taco stand, tapping on cars for help. Fischer bled to death at the taco stand. Amarillo police had been dispatched around 9:34 p.m. to Amarillo Boulevard and Philadelphia on a report of an injured pedestrian in the street; vehicles had stopped because drivers believed Fischer had been hit by a car.

After the stabbing

Driving home, Dudas realized the pocketknife had someone else's blood on it and threw it out the car window; it was never recovered. Two other pocketknives with blades no longer than three inches were later found in his home. On arriving home, Dudas washed his clothes, which likely had blood on them. At trial, the prosecution pointed to Dudas's flight, his discarding of the knife, and his washing of the clothes as evidence of guilt and intent.

Arrest

Amarillo police identified the suspect vehicle as a black four-door car. On October 13, 2020, APD arrested Dudas, 38, and charged him with murder. The APD Homicide Unit continued to investigate.

Trial

Dudas was tried in the 108th District Court of Potter County, the Honorable Douglas R. Woodburn presiding (Trial Court No. 079950-E-CR), on a charge of intentional or knowing murder. He pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defense.

Evidence

The State's case relied heavily on an eyewitness stationed about 100 yards away at the taco stand, who described Dudas as the aggressor and testified that Fischer was unarmed and not acting aggressively. Forensic evidence showed Fischer died of a stab wound to the neck; the pathologist described the impaled-and-twisted wound that severed the artery. The blurry surveillance video from across the street was played for the jury. The defense emphasized the size disparity between the two men, Fischer's threats, the swung chain, and Dudas's testimony that he feared death.

Jury instructions

Trial counsel submitted a written proposed charge requesting, among other things, instructions on the defenses of necessity and duress. The trial court refused both, reasoning:

"Well, I think as far as necessity, the – the only appropriate charge with regard to that is the justification defense of self-defense, and so I don't – I don't see where necessity plays – it's part of what goes in self-defense. His position is that he found it necessary to do that, in order to, you know, defend himself. So same thing with duress."

The court instructed the jury on self-defense in general and as to the use of deadly force. In closing, defense counsel argued Dudas had endured "the first attack or the second or the third" through "the fourteenth" before reaching for his knife on "the fifteenth," when Fischer had hold of his leg.

Verdict

The jury rejected Dudas's claim of self-defense and found him guilty of murder, assessing punishment at 15 years' confinement.

Appeal

Dudas appealed to the Seventh Court of Appeals at Amarillo (No. 07-24-00173-CR). In a memorandum opinion dated March 13, 2025, before Chief Justice Brian Quinn and Justices Parker and Yarbrough, the court affirmed. Of the six issues Dudas initially raised, two were waived; the court addressed four:

• Issue One (sufficiency of the evidence): Dudas argued the evidence was insufficient because it failed to negate the justification of necessity. The court held that the Jackson v. Virginia standard governs sufficiency review and does not include factoring in a defensive instruction omitted from the jury charge, and overruled the issue. The court noted the evidence showed Dudas "thrust his knife in the victim's neck and twisted it once impaled."
• Issue Three (necessity instruction): The court held that, because the trial court instructed the jury on self-defense with deadly force, the defense of necessity was unavailable under Chase v. State, and overruled the issue.
• Issue Four (duress instruction): The court held that Dudas had voluntarily placed himself in the situation of danger — he remained parked and then exited his vehicle despite Fischer's threats — which precluded duress under Texas Penal Code § 8.05(d), and overruled the issue.
• Issue Five (intent-to-kill / charge defect): Dudas argued the jury charge's definition of "intent" was defective. The court assumed a defect but found no "egregious harm," noting the pathologist's testimony that the knife was impaled and twisted and the artery severed, from which intent to kill could be inferred, and overruled the issue.

The court affirmed the judgment. (The opinion was designated "Do not publish.")

Court of Criminal Appeals

Dudas filed a Petition for Discretionary Review with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (No. PD-0221-25), which was accepted on July 9, 2025. Oral argument was granted and requested by Dudas; the State did not request oral argument. The sole issue presented was:

Does a jury instruction on self-defense using deadly force preclude one on necessity?

On June 25, 2026, the Court of Criminal Appeals answered yes and affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals. The Court held that "when the conduct claimed to be justified is the use of deadly force in self-defense under Section 9.32, a legislative purpose to exclude reliance on the necessity defense plainly appears for purposes of 9.22(3)." Instructing a jury on necessity when a defendant had obtained a deadly-force self-defense instruction, the Court reasoned, would "undermine the Legislature's purpose of allowing a person to use deadly force in self-defense only under the specific circumstances enumerated" in Section 9.32. A concurring opinion added that a defendant is not entitled to a necessity instruction when the evidence raises only deadly-force self-defense. The case is now cited as the controlling Texas authority that a deadly-force self-defense instruction precludes a separate necessity instruction.

Key locations

Sources

• "APD investigating homicide after person dies after stabbing incident," KFDA / NewsChannel 10, October 10, 2020 — https://www.newschannel10.com/2020/10/10/apd-investigating-homicide-after-person-dies-after-stabbing-incident/
• "APD: Suspect in Amarillo Blvd. homicide arrested, victim identified," KFDA / NewsChannel 10, October 13, 2020 — https://www.newschannel10.com/2020/10/13/apd-suspect-amarillo-blvd-homicide-arrested-victim-identified/
• Dudas v. State, No. 07-24-00173-CR, Memorandum Opinion, Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo (March 13, 2025) (not designated for publication) — panel: Quinn, C.J., Parker and Yarbrough, JJ.
• Appellant's Brief, Dudas v. State, No. PD-0221-25 (Tex. Crim. App.), on petition for discretionary review from Cause No. 07-24-00173-CR and Trial Court No. 079950-E-CR.
• State's Brief, Dudas v. State, No. 07-24-00173-CR (Seventh Court of Appeals), filed November 25, 2024.
• Dudas v. State, No. PD-0221-25 (Tex. Crim. App. June 25, 2026); case summary, Texas District & County Attorneys Association — https://www.tdcaa.com/case-summaries/june-26-2026/