Port A man’s killer prison-bound again

The killer of prominent Port Aransas resident Michael Robert served only 19 years of his 35-year prison sentence for the grisly 1996 murder before being released on parole in 2016. But now Shawn Keith Fey, 54, is headed back to state prison on a new conviction and the possible revocation of his parole.

Fey is incarcerated in the Guadalupe County Jail, awaiting transport to Texas Department of Correction’s Huntsville Unit where he will be processed back into the system before being assigned to a prison unit, according to court records. He was sentenced to five years on a felony controlled substance conviction after pleading guilty May 25, according to the records.

Fey was paroled June 27, 2016, and released to supervision by the parole department in Nueces County, according to court records. He has lived in Corpus Christi and in Seguin since his parole, according to an online search of his whereabouts.

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles governmental affairs representative Pamela Pacher said that the commission of a new crime is a violation of an offender’s release rules. The Parole Board will review Fey’s case to determine if it should be modified or revoked, she said. “At this time, the revocation process has not yet been completed regarding Mr. Fey’s most recent conviction,” she said.

The first sign of a possible parole violation by Fey appeared in Bexar County court records on Oct. 18, 2020 when he was charged with alleged criminal trespass, but that was dismissed March 1, 2021, for insufficient evidence.

Then on March 25, 2021, he was booked into the Guadalupe County Jail on a parole violation warrant issued by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and charges of alleged terroristic threat and possession of controlled substances. He has remained there ever since.

Guadalupe County Jail Administrator Robert Hernandez confirmed Fey is still in jail there, and that his transfer to TDC has not yet been ordered.

When Fey pleaded guilty to the murder of Robert he made no statement about it in court. His lawyer relayed a statement from him to Robert’s friends and relatives, saying the crime was not planned and that “things got out of hand.” Prosecutors charged Fey with capital murder and contended that he killed Robert during a robbery and a kidnapping because he restrained the victim, who bled to death from a slashed neck.

At the time of the murder Fey was going by the name of Shawn Keith McClure. He was a 29-year-old unemployed drifter and was apparently visiting Robert, who owned the Sea Horse Inn in Port Aransas. Robert was previously associated with Fey two years earlier, but their parting had been unamicable.

A manager at the Sea Horse Inn discovered Robert’s body when he reported to work. Fey was arrested by Texas Rangers on Aug. 14, 1996, in San Antonio on a previous 1994 charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle when Robert accused him of stealing his 1990 Cadillac and other items from his home. Robert had told friends he had been trying to help Fey who was experiencing personal problems.

Fey, who has a lengthy criminal record, apparently again took Robert’s Cadillac after murdering him. Police found it abandoned in Brownsville, and they speculated he had gone to Mexico.

Robert was a prominent gay activist who was a board member of the Texas Human Rights Foundation. He donated time and money to the LGBT-rights movement, and the Sea Horse Inn was a popular resort for LGBT people and groups.

Robert ran unsuccessfully for the Nueces County Justice of the Peace judgeship in Port Aransas in 1992. He also worked in the campaigns of Gov. Ann Richards and President Bill Clinton.