Coles County Jury Finds Shafer Guilty of Murder

A Coles County jury deliberated for about five hours Tuesday before finding a Mattoon man guilty of first degree murder.

The jury also found 26-year-old James T. Shafer guilty of two counts of second degree murder, as well as counts of felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

The charges stemmed from an altercation in Mattoon last June that resulted in the death of 23-year-old Ciara Faries of Charleston. Mattoon police had been called to the scene on South 21st Street in Mattoon shortly after midnight due to a report of an exchange of gunshots between two groups of people. Faries was wounded during the exchange and later died at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.

The jury paused from its deliberations twice Tuesday afternoon to have questions answered regarding evidence before returning to deliberations, returning its verdicts later that afternoon.

Shafer is to be sentenced on April 20.