By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-03 15:00:40 | Updated at 2026-08-03 19:35:40
4 hours ago
A controversial Missouri prosecutor has come under fire for bringing charges against a semi-paralyzed stroke survivor accused of hitting a nurse during an alleged moment of delirium in hospital.
Stephanie Karr, the Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Creve Coeur in St Louis, is doing everything in her power to level an assault charge against Norman Fishel, 85, a retired research scientist who can barely walk, his attorneys have said.
Fishel allegedly grabbed and kicked a nurse when she tried to stop him from removing a catheter inside the ICU of Mercy Hospital in November 2025, according to court documents seen by the Daily Mail.
At the time, he was suffering from extreme delirium after having a hemorrhagic stroke, which left the entire left portion of his body, his dominant side, paralyzed, according to his lawyer, Javad Khazaeli.
Khazaeli added that Fishel wanted to discharge himself from the hospital and may have kicked out at nurses as they physically restrained him, but he was in such a state of confusion that he has no memory of the incident.
'We all want to protect nurses and there has been a big push to protect nurses since Covid, but this case is insane,' Khazaeli told the Daily Mail on Thursday.
'At 85, this is embarrassing for Norman. He's not a criminal and he's not going to admit to doing something that he had no control over. This has been degrading for him and his family. It serves nothing. They (the prosecutors) are dragging him through this for $100.'
Karr's team brought charges against Fishel in December, and the case made it to trial on Thursday despite protestations by the defense, represented by Khazaeli and his partner Brendan Roediger.
Norman Fishel, 85, who is semi-paralyzed, has been charged with assault for allegedly hitting a nurse during a moment of delirium following a stroke in hospital that he doesn't remember. He is pictured above with his wife of 60 years, Grace, and their daughter
Khazaeli said that Judge Tim Engelmeyer agreed with his team that the case was flawed as the charge Karr brought, 'assault in the fourth degree,' does not exist under the municipality's code, and because she provided scant detail on the accusation.
The attorney added that the case stood out for him due to the apparent cruelty against an elderly stroke survivor and the drama which unfolded during the first day of his trial.
'I don't think another single municipal prosecutor would have charged this case,' Khazaeli told the Daily Mail.
'The thing about this case that was insane was that Karr was screaming at everybody. When the judge was ready to make the decision, she ran up to scream at him and said she was dismissing this case.'
Articles from reporters who attended this hearing support Khazeali's narrative.
Karr filed for a 'nolle prosequi' – a Latin term describing a case being dropped – before the judge could make a ruling, allowing her to re-file the charges against Fishel with a stronger case, according to his defense attorneys.
Khazaeli said Karr's office is now threatening to re-file an assault charge against the 85-year-old.
Fishel, from Olivette, Missouri, sat quietly in the courtroom as he helplessly watched the ordeal unfold from his wheelchair.
Khazaeli said Fishel has managed just 24 steps in physical therapy since his stroke and he has been forced to fork out hundreds of dollars for private medical transportation just to attend his hearings.
Stephanie Karr (pictured), the Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Creve Coeur in St Louis, is doing everything in her power to level an assault charge against Fishel, 85, a retired research scientist who can barely walk, his attorneys have said
'It was exhausting,' Fishel said outside the court after the charges against him were dismissed, according to St Louis Today.
Fishel is a self-described computer geek who opened one of St Louis' first computer stores, Micro Age, in the 1970s. He has been married to his wife, Gracie, for 60 years and has never had a brush with the law.
Karr is a partner in Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe, one of a handful of law firms in the St Louis region that monopolizes the municipal law market.
She operates in Creve Coeur, an affluent suburb of Missouri's second-biggest city, where she is well-known in the legal circuit.
'Any attorney who has done civil rights work in St Louis has interacted with her,' Khazaeli said.
Khazaeli added that he has sued Karr over several other cases she brought against his clients, on the basis that in his opinion, they should never have been prosecuted.
They included a 2015 case against Black Lives Matter protesters who were arrested for writing messages in chalk in a parking lot, and a father who was arrested for allowing his sons, two and four, to urinate behind a bush after they were unable to find restrooms in a park.
Khazaeli provided court documents for both cases to the Daily Mail. He said none of the defendants in either case were convicted, and their cases were dismissed by the court.
Karr's office has been contacted for comment.
Karr's team brought charges against Fishel late last year and the case made it to trial on Thursday despite protestations by the defense, represented by attorneys Khazaeli and Brendan Roediger. Karr is pictured above in court March 2016
According to local reports, Karr was also recently removed from a case in which she charged a man who was attacked by a car-jacker for property damage, which stemmed from his attempt to fend off the thief.
The defense attorney isn't the first to spotlight Karr's unconventional approach to prosecuting.
A local magazine slammed her for alleged 'Karr-uption,' while the Department of Justice (DoJ) unearthed 'unlawful' practices by Ferguson Police Department in 2013, when Karr was the prosecuting attorney for the city.
Published 2015, the report made several recommendations to address concerns about law enforcement in the city.
Though it did not make any recommendations naming Karr specifically, it flagged how in 2013, Karr had a red-light-camera ticket dismissed for Municipal Judge Ronald Brockmeyer.
In the same year, she ordered a prosecutor from another municipality to dismiss a speeding ticket for the relative of a Ferguson Police Department patrol supervisor, according to the report.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Karr, Brockmeyer, and Ferguson Police Department for comment.
