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Attorney Terry Niehoff Told the Circuit Attorney to Sh** or Get off the Pot | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

September 15, 2023

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Attorney Terry Niehoff (left) and Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore

Last week, prosecutors in St. Louis dropped murder charges against a 52-year-old woman who for almost two years stood accused of killing a woman who rented a room from her.

During the time the charges were hanging over her head, Consandra Perry spent more than a year in the troubled City Justice Center and, in the words of her attorney, “I don’t think she has anything left.”

The Circuit Attorney’s Office has given no indication they will refile the charges against Perry, who is now a free woman.

Niehoff says they should have dropped the charges a whole lot sooner.

“The police and the prosecutors failed to see the most obvious things here,” says attorney Terry Niehoff. “They had a terrible case.”

Niehoff says that Perry had inherited a building in the 1400 block of Semple Avenue in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood, where she rented rooms to tenants.

In December of 2021, 28-year-old Tatyana Smiley was one of her renters. Smiley was free on bond while facing murder charges for killing a 72-year old man in Walnut Park East a little over a year before. Smiley had allegedly shot Charles Watkins and then set fire to his home, suffering severe burns to her face in the process.

On December 14, 2021, someone went into the Semple Avenue rooming house where Smiley was staying. They shot Smiley multiple times and then fled.

To Niehoff’s mind, the killing was obviously an act of revenge for Watkins’ death.

Police and prosecutors didn’t see it that way.

“Sometimes the police latch on to the first thing and they just want to close it up real fast,” Niehoff says. “It was a circumstantial case.”

click to enlarge COURTESY SLMPD Tatyana Smiley, killed in December 2021

The evidence against Perry appears to have been pretty thin. In the wake of Smiley’s murder, Perry gave a statement to police that put her near the scene of the crime. She said she’d gone to the property, heard gunshots and then ran out. By way of motive, the best authorities could do was that Perry had complained to her sister about Smiley not paying rent.

Police also neglected a seemingly important clue. The night of the killing, when Perry was in custody, someone set fire to the building on Semple Avenue, trying to burn it down.

“It was a mirror of what happened to Smiley’s victim,” Niehoff says.

Niehoff says that prosecutors should have dismissed the case long ago, yet under Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, he couldn’t get traction. “Trying to get anybody to do anything was almost impossible,” he says.

After new Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore took office in early June, the case was still set for jury trial in Judge Theresa Burke’s court. That trial was set to happen August 28, but a week prior to it, the new prosecutor on the case asked for a continuance. Niehoff said he would agree to kick the can, but only if the judge scheduled a bench trial (which is a trial held in front of a judge only, with no jury present) sooner rather than later. “Otherwise it would have been kicked into the new year,” says Niehoff.

click to enlarge Courtesy photo The murder case Consandra Perry had been facing for almost two years was dismissed last week.

That bench trial was originally scheduled to happen yesterday. But last week prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi, dismissing the case and electing not to pursue it any further.

Niehoff says the bench trial was his way of forcing the prosecutor’s office to “shit or get off the pot.” He adds, “They got off the pot.”

As for Perry, she was originally free on bond while awaiting trial, but she violated the terms of that pretrial release and ended up spending a substantial amount of time in custody. Niehoff says he isn’t exactly sure how long Perry was in the City Justice Center, but he’s certain it was longer than a year.

The conditions at the city jail have increasingly raised alarm bells for criminal justice reformers — and even others who don’t usually pay attention to the jail. Two inmates died there in August. Defense attorneys have complained of their clients not having regular access to food and showers.

“That place should be burned down,” Niehoff says of the jail.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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