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Circuit Attorney Withheld Evidence in Murder Case, Critic Says | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2023

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Defense attorney David Mueller outside St. Louis County Courthouse Clayton.
The defense attorney representing a St. Louis man who was accused of killing a Parkway West senior in April 2020 says that the prosecutor handling the case for the Circuit Attorney’s Office withheld crucial, potentially exculpatory evidence the office had in its possession for more than two years. Carieal J. Doss, 18, was found dead on April 14, 2020, on a sidewalk in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, having suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Levi Henning, who is now 21, was charged with Doss’ murder almost a year later. According to court documents, Henning had arranged to meet with Doss to buy a gun from her. He was later found in possession of the firearm she was selling, a Springfield semi-automatic handgun. Charges against Henning were filed March 3, 2021, but the case was dropped by the Circuit Attorney’s Office earlier this month. Defense attorney David Mueller says in between Doss’ death and the case’s dismissal, the Circuit Attorney’s Office waited more than two years to disclose key evidence in the case. After charges were filed, the prosecution of the case was initially handled by Assistant Circuit Attorney Srikant Chigurupati. At a hearing on March 9, according to a court filing by Mueller, the CAO finally disclosed a key ballistics report as well as Doss’ Facebook messages that Mueller says the Circuit Attorney’s Office had in their possession for years. Mueller says in a court filing that about a week after Doss was killed, the police swabbed for DNA two pieces of cloth “found within arm’s length” of Doss. Police then waited until August 2021 to test those DNA swabs, and when they did they were found to match someone else other than Henning. However, it wasn’t until this month that the Circuit Attorney’s Office disclosed that the DNA matched a man named Brandon Langston. Langston is currently facing charges for a murder that occurred just four days after Doss’ death. Ballistics tests showed that the weapon as well as the ammunition were the same in both Doss’ murder and the murder for which Langston is charged—but Mueller says those facts were not disclosed by the Circuit Attorney’s Office until this month, . “It’s persuasive evidence of an alternative suspect,” Mueller says. “I don’t know that it proves beyond reasonable doubt that he’s the shooter in this case. But I also think that there’s far more evidence against Mr. Langston than there is against Mr. Henning.” Mueller also says that when the CAO filed charges against Henning, their case was based in part on Henning’s Facebook messages with Doss. The state did disclose approximately 2,500 pages of Henning’s Facebook activity in April 2022 . According to Mueller, Chigurupati said in a court filing that he had disclosed all the Facebook messages related to this case. “That was not true,” Mueller says. “He provided essentially half of the Facebook records.” The CAO also had Doss’ Facebook messages, which they did not disclose until this month. Mueller says that Doss’ messages totaled more than 2,000 pages, including exchanges with approximately eight people she communicated with on the day she was killed. One of those messages was from an individual, who was not Henning, who invited Doss over to an apartment not long before she died. Mueller says an investigator working for his office located this individual in less than 24 hours and learned that she had never been interviewed by authorities.Furthermore, the Facebook data not made available to Mueller until this month show that Doss was still active on the site after the state says that Henning killed her. “It’s not justice to hold on to discovery that you know to be exculpatory,” Mueller says. Mueller says he also takes exception with an application for a warrant signed by both a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detective and an attorney with the CAO. Mueller calls it, “one of the most egregious warrant apps I’ve ever seen.” The warrant application says that a ballistics report from the SLMPD firearms lab confirms that a gun found in Henning’s possession was used in Doss’ murder. However, the report itself says in large, all capital red letters at the top of the page: “Notification only. This has not been worked.” Elsewhere on the ballistics report, it says that the evidence only “has the potential to be linked to” the case against Henning. “This is the most egregious thing I’ve seen done by a circuit attorney’s office and a police officer in 10 years,” Mueller says. Mueller says that this month’s disclosure happened in part because last summer responsibility for the case transferred from Chigurupati to a different assistant circuit attorney, Natalia Ogurkiewicz. “Ms. Ogurkiewicz was the one who identified and disclosed the DNA evidence that had never been disclosed,” Mueller says. “In my opinion, she did so timely considering when she took over the file.” Mueller became Henning’s lawyer in February of this year, and he had the full discovery, including the ballistics, DNA evidence and Facebook messages, the following month.Mueller says that he feels for the family of Carieal Doss. They have consistently shown up to hearings in the case against Henning, hoping to have justice for the young woman who died three years ago next month. “There’s a victim in this case,” Mueller says. “They have not received justice. There hasn’t been a proper investigation .” He adds, “The way that the investigation was conducted and the way it was litigated…It’s not justice for my client. But it’s also not justice for these victims and their families. It’s not justice for the city.” Henning is currently detained in the City Justice Center on unrelated robbery charges.
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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

8 months 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

8 months 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

8 months 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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