Fairchild Convicted in 2006 Murder of Former Constable

07/11/2008 - PAINTSVILLE --- A jury's recommendation Wednesday of a 20-year prison sentence for a man convicted of the 2006 murder of former Johnson County Constable James Mollette was a far less penalty than what he had offered to accept in exchange for a guilty plea just days before.

The day before he was scheduled to stand trial Monday, Christopher Darrell Fairchild, 24, of Stambaugh, had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a 30-year sentence, Mollette's son-in-law, Jack Shreeve of Indiana, said in an interview prior to the jury's recommendations.
Shreeve acknowledged, however, the family rejected the plea deal. He declined to comment any further on the proposed offer.

"We have been waiting two years for this (trial)," Shreeve said. "I have known James (Mollette) for about 15 years ever since I married his daughter. He was a good man. They (Fairchild and co-defendant Tommy Lee Baldridge Jr.) didn't need to do what they did to him. He would have given his shirt right off his back. Everyone loved James."

Evidence was presented over a three-day trial that Fairchild, in complicity with Baldridge, shot and slit Mollette's throat on Sept. 25, 2006, and then robbed him of his wallet, two jars of coins, and a green Honda Rubicon four-wheeler.

Defense testimony centered on negative associations with Mollette being an accused drug dealer.
Shreeve worried Mollette might be remembered by the community for all the wrong reasons.
"He was an ex-constable who served Johnson County," he said. "I never saw him dealing drugs."
Following over three hours of deliberations Wednesday, a nine-woman, three-man Johnson Circuit Court jury returned a guilty verdict against Fairchild on charges of murder/complicity, theft by unlawful taking over $300 complicity, complicity, and tampering with physical evidence complicity, receiving stolen property over $300 complicity.

Following his conviction, Fairchild wept and repeatedly covered his face as he wiped his tears.
After retreating to closed doors again for about two hours as part of the penalty phase to review evidence of a prior robbery conviction against Fairchild, the jury recommended 20 years on the first charge, one year each on the second and third charges, and two years on the fourth charge.
Each of the jury's recommendations was the minimum penalty Fairchild could serve under state sentencing guidelines. He had faced life without the possibility of parole or life without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

The jury also recommended that Fairchild's sentences run concurrently — at the same time — for a total of 20 years.

He must serve 85 percent of his sentence, making him eligible for parole in about 17 years, officials said. He is expected to be sentenced July 14 in accordance to the jury's recommendations.

A status conference is also set for July 14 in an assault and persistent felony case against Fairchild.

Just a day before Mollette's murder, Fairchild is accused of severely beating Sixth Street resident Patricia Kimbler. The case had been set for trial the same day as the murder trial was scheduled to begin.

Baldridge, who had cooperated with police following his arrest on murder charges and testified against Fairchild, had previously pleaded guilty to a 25-year prison sentence. In accordance to that plea deal, Baldridge must serve 20 percent of his sentence, making him eligible for parole after about seven years.

A sentencing date has not yet been set for Baldridge.

Prosecutors attributed Fairchild's conviction to law enforcement's cooperation.

"The case has been a testament to what can happen when all law enforcement agencies work together …Without the corporation between the Kentucky State Police, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, the Paintsville Police Department, Mr. Mollette's murder may have never been resolved and most definitely would not have resulted in the conviction," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Skeans said.

James C. Gibson, Fairchild's Frankfort-based public defender, declined to comment; however, during the penalty phase of the trial he said "we are disappointed with the verdict, but we respect it."

During his closing statements, Gibson reminded the jury that on Monday morning, he had said "if this trial were a movie, they would call it The Tommy Baldridge Story."

"To convict Chris, you have to believe Tommy, but you can't because he is a liar," Gibson said.
During Baldridge's testimony, he said he and Fairchild went searching for ginseng and later ended up at Mollette's Boons Camp residence. Baldridge said Fairchild had carried a .50-caliber black powder rifle to sell to Mollette.

Baldridge said he was instructed to wait near Mollette's ATV while Fairchild went inside to sell the rifle, and later he heard a noise and then a gunshot. The next thing he said he saw was Fairchild on Mollette's porch holding a gun to his head and telling him that if he didn't cut Mollette's head off with an axe, he would be lying next to Mollette's body.

Baldridge said he went into the residence and used the axe to chop Mollette's neck "a few times," but he did not actually decapitate him as Fairchild allegedly had instructed.

Baldridge said he and Fairchild later rode Mollette's four-wheeler across Spicy Ridge, where Fairchild met up with his now-wife, Alisha Gamble. James King, a resident of that area, and Bryant Lafferty, who worked near the same location, testified they saw Fairchild enter a vehicle and Baldridge leave on the ATV. Baldridge said he rode the stolen four-wheeler to a BP station and used some of the money he claimed Fairchild stole from Mollette to purchase cigarettes. Later, he and Fairchild hid the ATV under Fairchild's former grandparents home on Ky. 3, he said.

Baldridge said they then went to a drug dealer's home and used a portion of the proceeds from the robbery and murder of Mollette to purchase 42 Lortab.

"To find Chris guilty, you have to believe Tommy, who said he was afraid after his friend forced him to cut Mr. Mollette's head off. (But Tommy) would stay with Chris that whole time and not report the information to police," Gibson argued. "Why wouldn't he get away? But he didn't' get away, he went and bought dope. You heard VanHooses testify when he and Chris were at their house buying drugs, he kept knocking on their door, telling Chris to 'hurry up let's go party!' Is this a guy who just saw a murder and had been threatened? . . . Keep that in your mind, 'Hurry up let's go party!'

"You can't believe what he (Baldridge) has said. He was bought and paid for by the commonwealth's deal," Gibson said, adding that Baldridge was bound by the plea agreement to testify to the "same story" he told following his arrest.

During the trial, Skeans offered to allow Baldridge to change his story and still keep the deal, but he refused, saying he was "telling the truth."

Skeans, who tried the case jointly with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney David Blankenship, said he wanted to clear up something Gibson had said.

"You don't have to believe what Tommy said to convict Chris," Skeans said. "His story doesn't' make sense ... He wants you to believe that he was an innocent lamb led to the slaughter much like Chris wants you to believe. No one in this case, possibly not even Mr. Mollette, was an innocent lamb. During voire dire, one person said if you live by the sword you die by the sword."
Fairchild had testified in his own defense that it was Baldridge who killed Mollette and then robbed him.

Fairchild admitted knowing the items were stolen and said he had placed socks on his hands as he helped hide the four-wheeler. He also confessed to purchasing pills with the proceeds of Mollette's homicide and robbery.

"The truth isn't in either of Chris's or Tommy's testimony," Skeans said. "This isn't just The Tommy Show. It's the Chris and Tommy Show. Chris Fairchild knows his way around the world of drug dealing. The world of pills, pot, back stabbing, double dealing — it's a common place. We don't get to pick our victim or witnesses. This is Chris Fairchild's world, not ours."

Skeans said there was one crucial statement made by Fairchild in court Tuesday that "kept running through" his mind because it is "contradictory" to his other statements.
Fairchild testified he didn't learn of Mollette's death until the day after the murder; however, he says otherwise in tape-recorded jail phone conversations admitted as evidence.

"The reason why they (police) never found the axe I got mad and threw that God d**** hatchet over the hill," Fairchild said. "He (Baldridge) said you better shut up. I'd tell you (Fairchild) done it."

Skeans argued that Fairchild obviously knew Mollette had been murdered almost immediately after they left Mollette's home, not several days later.

"That was an important misstatement," Skeans said.

Switching the roles around, Skeans said Fairchild's story also doesn't make sense.

"When he (Fairchild) found out that his friend (Baldridge) killed his buddy dope dealer, who gave him dope on credit, instead of running to get away from Tommy, he let him stay at his house for 48 hours," the prosecutor said. "When Chris couldn't get away from the DNA on a sock recovered from Mr. Mollette's four-wheeler, he had to come up with a story. He told you (the jury) he wore the socks on his hands to keep from leaving his prints on the stolen ATV, but you heard testimony from Bryant Lafferty that he saw the two men on the ATV as they fled from the murder scene, and Tommy was the only one wearing the socks. Why wouldn't Chris want to wear socks on his hands while he was riding the four-wheeler to prevent leaving prints? Because he and Chris were really wearing the socks to prevent leaving prints at the murder scene. They may not have meant to kill him. If you deal in the drug world, things can turn bad."

"At the end of the day, this is a very simple case. All the evidence supports on September 25, 2006, Chris and Tommy together went to Mollette's house and robbed and killed him. Tommy is an outsider in the drug world, as testimony supports. Mr. Mollette wouldn't take new customers as Chris has testified. Mr. Mollette and Tommy didn't know one another. Chris would have to buy the drugs from Mr. Mollette and then give some to Tommy. James Mollette was found dead in his house. His girlfriend, Dorraine Mullins, said Mr. Mollette wouldn't even let her in his house but only once a week. Do you think he would have let a clearly armed man that he didn't know in his house as Chris has suggested? No. They were together before, during and after his murder, and both got the proceeds of the robbery. Who got the most valuable proceed, the four-wheeler? Fairchild. This is the Chris and Tommy show. I ask that today you hold both parties accountable for their actions."