OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - The Omaha man accused of murdering a twice convicted sex offender in his home says he doesn’t want to be considered a hero or martyr.
In an exclusive interview with 3 News Now senior reporter Jake Wasikowski, James Fairbanks tells him what happened the day he allegedly shot and killed Mattieo Condoluci.
Watch the full interview with Fairbanks below
Condoluci was a registered sex offender who was convicted twice of crimes against children. Fairbanks says he saw Condoluci staring at children next door and saw he had a playground in his backyard.
He was looking for a place to live in the area, knew of Condoluci’s past, and said he had to do something to make sure he couldn’t hurt any other children.
“I just didn’t feel like there was anybody I could turn to with this so I said I was just going to go over there and threaten him basically,” Fairbanks said. “My intention was to go over there and let him know, ‘Look I know who you are, I watched you the other day, you touch any of these kids, you’re not going to get another slap on the wrist from the justice system. I’m coming next time. Next time you come for one of these kids, you’re going to deal with me.”
Fairbanks says when he confronted Condoluci, he showed him the gun, told him to go inside the home, and started to tell him to stop abusing children when Condoluci came at Fairbanks and he fired. He says he took it personally because he’s seen the trauma abuse has on kids, first hand.
He’s appreciated all the letters of support, money on his books, and the “Free James Fairbanks” Facebook page. But Fairbanks wants people to use their efforts to help change laws for tracking and keeping sex offenders from committing more crimes.
“I can handle whatever I have coming my way and if the whole point of all of this is that I just get off then I think we’ve missed a chance to do something and that’s take this momentum that is out there to freeing me and channel it to the district attorney, the judges, the legislatures. We need tougher penalties," Fairbanks said. "We need to stop cutting these deals that allow men like him to molest children for decades.”
Fairbanks tells KMTV that he would be willing to take a plea for the crimes he feels he’s responsible for if the county attorney and state legislatures discuss changing punishments and the tracking of convicted sex offenders. He also would go to trial because he doesn’t think a jury would unanimously convict him of 1st degree murder if they can see all the facts.
