Defendant guilty in 1981 murders
By David Pittman, Amarillo Globe News
March 4, 2010
James Terry Shelnutt shook his head, looked back at his family and shrugged as the judge read the guilty verdict the Potter County jury had just returned.
The jury Wednesday found Shelnutt guilty of two counts of murder in the Nov. 16, 1981, slayings of Robert Phillips, 25, and Phyllis Ann Fassauer, 22.
The verdict concludes a nearly 30-year-old cold case cracked only when a key witness finished serving a 25-year prison sentence for the same crime.
"He has escaped justice for 29 years," Assistant District Attorney J. Patrick Murphy told jurors during closing arguments.
The trial in the 320th District Court began Monday. Jury deliberations lasted less than 90 minutes. Prosecutors argued that Shelnutt, 54, offered his friend William Randall Bennett, then 24, money and drugs to kill Phillips. The offer was made after Phillips got into a fight with Shelnutt at his home over drugs.
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