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A state appellate court upheld a verdict by a Luzerne County jury that found Keith Michael Williams guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the 2017 shotgun slaying of Brock Earnest.
				Williams, 44, appealed the conviction and a prison sentence of four years, six months to nine years claiming the fatal shooting was self defense.
				State police said Williams and Earnest, 40, of Montandon, were involved in a fight outside a residence on Old Tioga Turnpike in Fairmount Township on Jan. 11, 2017.
				After the fight and as Earnest sat on a couch inside the residence, Williams went to a bedroom and loaded a shotgun, walked to the living room and shot Earnest in the chest, court records say.
				Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross testified during Williams&rsquo; trial held before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas in August 2018 that the shotgun blast left a circular hole nearly 2.25 inches in diameter in Earnest&rsquo;s chest. Based on the wound, Ross felt the barrel of the shotgun was 2.5 feet to 6 feet away from Earnest.
				Williams&rsquo; then girlfriend, Diedre Depiero, testified during the trial she invited Earnest to the home after Earnest claimed he had mouth cancer and felt he needed to be with someone.
				Depiero told jurors Williams and Earnest were fighting but she characterized it at first as playful before getting out of hand.
				In his appeal, Williams claimed self defense and challenged there was not sufficient evidence to support a conviction. Williams believed he was in immediate and imminent danger of death of serious bodily injury, according to his appeal.
				Assistant district attorneys Michelle Hardik and Justin Richards argued for a first- or third-degree murder conviction, while Williams&rsquo; attorneys, Demetrius Fannick and Christine Marie Trout, sought acquittal based on the self defense claim.
				The jury ultimately convicted Williams of voluntary manslaughter, one of the five offenses within the criminal homicide statute.
				&ldquo;Clearly, the jury, as fact finder, was free to believe whatever portions of the evidence it found credible. Viewed as a whole, the evidence presented by (assistant district attorneys) fully supports the jury&rsquo;s finding that the (prosecutors) met its burden of proving that (Williams) was not acting in self defense when he shot and killed the victim,&rdquo; a three-member panel of the state Superior Court ruled Tuesday.
				The appellate court opined that the evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial showed the fight between Williams and Earnest had ended prior to the shooting, and Williams was able to distance himself from Earnest after the fight.

Superior Court upholds jury’s voluntary manslaughter verdict against Fairmount Township man