Without comment, the State Supreme Court has denied the appeal of Shaun Fairman, the Washington Township man who shot his father-in-law to death at a home near Trade City in June of 2012.
Fairman’s appeal was denied by Superior Court in March, and he took his case to the Supreme Court the following month. Last week, the higher court announced its decision, effectively ending the appeal process and keeping the second degree murder conviction intact. The Superior Court ruling last spring noted that he offered no evidence to support his contention that he was wrongfully convicted.
The 39-year-old Fairman fatally shot Richard Shotts at the home of Fairman’s estranged wife. Shotts had been at the home to protect his daughter in case Fairman showed up and was shot through a kitchen window. Fairman then searched through the house for his wife, who was hiding in an upstairs closet. As he stood outside the closet, she shot him through the door, wounding him and holding him at gunpoint until police arrived. Fairman later claimed he was drunk and had gone to the house to kill himself in front of his wife.
Fairman is serving a life sentence without the chance of parole at SCI Forest County.
