By Mallory Panuska
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT —
Despite successfully convincing a Marion County judge to atypically set a bond amount on a felony murder charge last week, William Michael Horton Jr. has little hope of leaving jail anytime soon.
Accused of both felony murder and first-degree robbery stemming from a June 26 break-in-turned-fatal-shooting at a Quarry Avenue residence, Horton waived a hearing Tuesday, thus revoking terms of a prior probation sentence.
According to reports, Horton, a 27-year-old Fairmont native, allegedly served as a “lookout” for his cousin, 22-year-old John G. Cottingham, and a male juvenile who reportedly broke into the home at around 2 a.m. The pair were armed with firearms, and attempted to rob the occupants of “money and drugs,” but the tables turned on them when one of the occupants reportedly got into an altercation with Cottingham, wrestled his gun away, and shot him to death.
