Travis W. Bartley was a 24-year-old White male from Hedgesville, West Virginia, whose life ended on June 13, 2016, during a confrontation at a secluded property in the Valley High Timber Farms area west of Great Cacapon. Earlier that day, Bartley had been working with Jack Douglas and Terry Lee Marks at Douglas’s daughter’s home. After finishing around 3:00 p.m., the men went to check a vacant residence at 1162 Gamble Lane that Douglas had been asked by the property owner to watch. When they arrived, they discovered roughly thirty yards of logs and debris blocking the driveway. Douglas sent Bartley to get his father, William “Willie” Bartley Jr., along with a chainsaw, and the four men began clearing the obstruction.
The property bordered land occupied by Erick D. Shute, with whom there had been continuing tension concerning property boundaries, trespassing and accusations of theft.
According to the later court record, Marks had seen Shute armed with a rifle in the woods near the property the previous evening. On June 13, as the men cleared the driveway, Shute again appeared carrying a rifle. William Bartley spoke with him while Douglas and Marks went farther onto the property. When they returned, an argument was underway. Douglas attempted to use his telephone to contact police, and moments later Shute opened fire. Marks testified that Douglas was struck and collapsed, followed by Travis Bartley, and that William Bartley was then shot when he moved toward his son. The appellate record stated that two of the three victims were shot in the back and that investigators found no evidence that any of the victims had a firearm either on them or in their vehicle. Medical-examiner testimony later presented at trial established that Travis Bartley suffered gunshot wounds to his right abdomen and back. Douglas and both Bartleys died from their wounds.
Marks was the only member of the group to escape. He ran into the woods as Shute fired after him, later testifying that he heard bullets striking trees as he fled. After the killings, Shute crossed onto the neighboring property, took Douglas’s cell phone and left the area. He subsequently contacted police, acknowledged that he was the shooter and maintained that he had acted in self-defense because he believed the men posed a threat to him. Authorities launched a multi-state search, and Shute was captured in Chester County, Pennsylvania, after an approximately eight-hour manhunt. He was eventually extradited to West Virginia and held without bond. Investigators also searched his Great Cacapon property and seized electronic devices and firearms, including a. 223-caliber rifle authorities suspected had been used in the killings.
Shute’s account centered on his belief that the men were trespassing or stealing from the neighboring residence. During his eventual testimony, he said he did not realize they had authorization to be there and claimed he feared they were going to attack or kill him. Prosecutors presented a very different picture, portraying the shooting as an ambush rather than legitimate self-defense. Evidence showed that Shute had been observing the property while armed, that the driveway had been obstructed with a substantial amount of logs and debris, and that the victims were lawfully checking and maintaining the property. The surviving witness’s testimony, the absence of weapons among the victims and the circumstances surrounding the gunfire became important evidence supporting the prosecution’s claim that the killings were deliberate and premeditated.
On January 3, 2017, a Morgan County grand jury indicted Shute on three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Travis Bartley, William Bartley and Jack Douglas. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting at Marks, wanton endangerment involving a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Shute pleaded not guilty and later formally notified the court that he intended to rely on self-defense. His attorneys also sought an instruction based on “imperfect self-defense,” but the trial court rejected it because West Virginia had not recognized that doctrine.
The case finally went before a Morgan County jury in July 2018. Over the three-day trial, prosecutors called sixteen witnesses, including Marks, while the defense presented testimony from Shute, his mother and a friend. Shute admitted firing the shots but maintained that he believed his life was in danger. After approximately two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected that explanation and found him guilty on every charge. On each of the three first-degree murder convictions, the jury recommended no mercy, eliminating the possibility of parole on the life sentences.
In September 2018, Shute received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders, along with additional consecutive prison terms for attempting to murder Marks, wanton endangerment and the firearm offense. The additional convictions amounted to an aggregate term of eighteen to thirty years beyond the three life sentences. Shute appealed, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting premeditated murder, aspects of the jury instructions, the rejection of his proposed imperfect-self-defense instruction and the decision to impose consecutive life sentences without mercy. On February 24, 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia unanimously affirmed the convictions and sentences, finding no prejudicial error and concluding that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to convict him.
In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, the Morgan County sheriff also identified Shute’s stepfather, referred to publicly as Jeff, as a person of interest because investigators had not yet been able to contact him. Subsequent court proceedings and published accounts, however, centered on Erick Shute as the person responsible for the shootings; the available records reviewed do not indicate that the stepfather was arrested or charged in connection with the deaths. Shute remained the sole defendant prosecuted for the killings of Travis Bartley, his father and Jack Douglas, and his convictions left him facing imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
