No bond for 43 year old James Fairbanks, the Omaha man accused of murdering a registered sex offender.
The Douglas County Deputy Attorney said it was anger that drove Fairbanks to kill the man and his team worried Fairbanks would do it again if he got out.
Mattieo Condoluci was shot and killed at his home last week. Condoluci was convicted and served time for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Bellevue.
Fairbanks' ex-wife says he confessed to killing Condoluci before he was arrested. His defense attorney, Steve Lefler, says when Fairbanks walked into a room Thursday at the jail he received a standing ovation, an indication of where sex offenders rank in prison.
“Our citizens usually hate someone accused of first-degree murder. That’s what makes this an unusual case,” Lefler says. He believes a jury will see a case that's more than black and white, and that a jury of his peers will side with him.
Fairbanks family confirms that he sent an e-mail to media outlets the day before his arrest detailing why he shot and killed Condoluci. In that e-mail Fairbanks said he had noticed Condoluci watching kids play in the street while pretending to wash his truck.
It went on to say that after Fairbanks researched Condoluci’s background, he found him to be twice convicted of sexually assaulting children and said Condoluci had to be stopped.
“It’s never a good idea to take justice into your own hands. Vigilante justice isn’t the answer, Douglas County Chief Deputy Attorney Brenda Beadle told 6 News.
Beadle is sympathetic to child victims, but questions the basis of vigilante justice and says she was not aware of Condoluci being under investigation.
"The evidence I know of, he was making efforts to change his life and do right," Beadle said about Condoluci. More than a thousand people have joined a Facebook page with the goal of freeing Fairbanks.
When Fairbanks was brought to Douglas County Corrections Tuesday morning 6 News reports he had already accumulated $1,200 deposited into his inmate account, much of it from strangers.
Lefler said at least 10 inmates stood up and applauded support for Fairbanks when he walked into the jail's medical unit Thursday.
"While he doesn't want to be in jail, it's obviously gratifying. That's incredibly rare. I've been doing this for 44 years and I've never seen anything like that before," Lefler said.
Condoluci's daughter, who says she was abused by her father when she was younger, came to court to see Fairbanks go before a judge, not to support her father.