A Dallas appeals court has shut down the latest challenge from Jamarco Blanton, leaving intact his life-without-parole sentence for the 2023 capital murder of Terrell convenience store owner Fahed “Pops” Fatayri. The decision keeps in place a Kaufman County jury’s finding that Fatayri was shot during an attempted robbery at the Mom & Pops store.
Jurors previously heard that on May 12, 2023, Blanton and two others went into the store and an argument quickly escalated into gunfire. Surveillance footage and witness accounts captured what happened, and officers already in the area detained a man running from the scene, later recovering a jacket and firearm nearby, according to The Dallas Morning News.
To many in Terrell, Fatayri was more than a shop owner. Relatives described him as a familiar, generous presence who routinely spotted customers short on cash. “He always helped people and I was thankful for that,” Mazen Fatayri told local reporters after the shooting, per FOX4. His killing rattled the neighborhood as the case moved through the courts.
Appeals Court Affirms Conviction
In a memorandum opinion issued Wednesday, the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas rejected Blanton’s appellate claims and affirmed the trial court’s judgment, leaving his mandatory life-without-parole sentence in place, according to Inforney. The justices pointed to the combination of video, eyewitness testimony and physical evidence in upholding the jury’s conclusion that Fatayri was shot to facilitate a theft. Investigators recovered a discarded gun from a storm drain, and testing linked it to the fatal bullet, while Blanton was detained nearby after being seen running from the store…