Convicted murderer Robert John “Fatty” Grant is appealing against his conviction in Dubbo Supreme Court on April 6 last year.

On that day a jury wasted no time in finding him guilty of gunning down Ross Shersingh and then attempting to kill Daniel Bradford in the carpark of the Lightning Ridge Hotel-Motel in the early hours of November 28 1999.

During the 10-day trial the court was told that Mr Shersingh, Mr Bradford and another man were drinking twist tops at the back of a utility in the carpark.

Grant had walked towards the carpark from a caravan brandishing a gun.

As he approached the ute he raised the weapon and shot Mr Shersingh in the chest before drawing a shortened firearm and chasing Mr Bradford, firing another shot which missed him.

Mr Shersingh died a short time later while Grant and the weapons were found soon after in his caravan.

In June last year a Supreme Court judge sentenced Grant to 20 years jail for the murder and attempted murder.

“If it were necessary to find motive for the prisoner’s actions I think the most probable is some resentment on the night of his lot in life,” Justice Hulme said.

He concluded that the offence was “unpremeditated except for a few moments”.

Grant will be eligible for release in 2014 after the judge set a non-parole period of 15 years and took into account the time he had already spent in custody.

In determining the sentence the judge had taken into account Grant’s lack of contrition, which he said was demonstrated by an attempt to “have evidence changed or not given”.

During the trial a witness handed a letter to police that he had received from Grant asking him to “convince” two eye-witnesses they were mistaken in their identification of him as the killer.

Throughout the trial Grant maintained his innocence despite Mr Bradford and another man, Anthony Leeder, testifying that they saw him pull the trigger.

The appeal will be one of three cases heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dubbo on February 8.