Feb 6, 2019 3 min read

A homicide suspect’s attorney argued Monday that a Fayette County judge should reconsider nominal bail for his client.

Assistant Public Defender Michael Aubele asked County Senior Judge Gerald R. Solomon to reconsider his motion to deny nominal bail for his client, Christopher C. Shellhammer, 31, of McClellandtown, who is being held in Fayette County Prison.

Police allege Shellhammer shot Michael Henrick, 39, in the back and chest after he arrived at the Masontown residence of Kelly French. Authorities said Henrick, who was French’s fiancé, and Shellhammer started to argue, and Shellhammer shot him on Jan. 15, 2018.

Aubele has contended that Shellhammer was set up by French for an ambush as text messages were suggesting an invitation to smoke marijuana and have sex. Shellhammer texted to say he was at the home at 9:48 p.m., and by 9:53 p.m., Aubele said, he was calling 911 to say he shot someone, and driving to the Masontown Police Department.

Solomon denied the motion last month due to lack of evidence of self-defense and lack of knowledge of the sequence of the shots fired at Henrick.

Aubele said Monday that Shellhammer made the statement that he was set up while he was at the Masontown Police Department, as a police officer with the department testified that Shellhammer said he was set up.

Solomon said it was the same argument that Aubele made prior and added that there was no direct testimony from Shellhammer saying he was set up.

Aubele also argued that charges recently filed for an assault of a man in French’s basement draws comparisons with Shellhammer’s case.

In both cases, French met a man on an online dating website, invited the man to her house along Peach Street in Masontown, and that man ended up being assaulted.

“To us, this is her common plan scheme,” Aubele said. “It’s beyond the pale.”

In the Jan. 21 case, Masontown police saw a beaten and bloodied Alan Lipscomb walking around the borough, and he informed the police that he was in a basement for two days, adding later that French allegedly tied him up with video game cords and even stuck a dagger in his arm and threatened to stick the dagger in his neck.

David M. Clark, 42, of Dilliner, who was at the home, is facing charges including attempted homicide in the case, and is in Fayette County Prison on $250,000 bond.

Aubele said, unlike the recent victim, Shellhammer was able to get out of the situation after he was struck by French and Henrick first, adding that Shellhammer suffered a broken nose, broken jaw and a concussion, according to medical records from Uniontown Hospital obtained through discovery.

“You should produce it to help me in my decision,” Solomon said.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Benninger said he was not aware of any new evidence of medical records and will have to check discovery, but said it will be up to a jury to decide if French’s testimony is tainted or not because of her recent arrest.

“This incident started with Mr. Shellhammer pulling a gun on two unarmed individuals,” Benninger said.

Aubele said Shellhammer has no criminal record and should be released on bail or placed on pretrial services including electronic monitoring.

Solomon said he will make a decision at a later time and instructed the defense to file any additional motions within 10 days and gave the commonwealth an additional 10 days to file a response.