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Only Black People Have Been Convicted of Felony Murder in St. Louis City Since 2010 | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2023

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click to enlarge Google Maps The Civil Courts building downtown.

Since 2010, every single person convicted of felony murder in St. Louis city has been Black, according to reporter Thomas Birmingham who did a recent deep dive on the peculiarities of felony murder in Missouri for the Appeal.

Felony murder is a charge brought by prosecutors against individuals whose participation in a lesser criminal act leads to someone’s death. For example, someone steals a car and then, fleeing the police, causes a collision that kills a pedestrian.

But Birmingham’s story, “How Missouri’s ‘Felony Murder’ Law Traps People for Defending Themselves,” focuses on Missourians who had killed someone seemingly in self-defense. Antonio Meanus, the man at the center of the Appeal story, had shot and killed someone who pulled a gun on him and his friend. But, as Birmingham finds, the way that Missouri’s felony murder law is written means that, for Meanus and thousands of other Missourians, self-defense is no defense at all.

“Missouri is one of only four states where any felony can be used as the underlying felony in felony murder,” Birmingham told the RFT. And if you are one of the almost 70,000 convicted felons in the state, it’s a felony to just possess a gun.

“If you’re a felon, and you’re in illegal possession of a firearm because you’re a felon, that means that if you shoot someone, no matter what the reason is, you can be very easily convicted of felony murder because the underlying felony is having a gun,” Birmingham explains. “All they have to prove is whether or not you have the gun.”

“The situation raises questions about who Missouri believes deserves the right to fight back if someone is trying to kill them,” Birmingham wrote in his piece.

Reporting the piece, Birmingham also found out that, across all Missouri, Black people were more likely than people of any other race to be charged with felony murder, and the stats in the city of St. Louis were particularly lopsided.

In St Louis city, 46 people had been convicted of felony murder in the past 13 years, and all 46 were Black.

“I was very shocked to see that it was one hundred percent,” he tells the RFT.

One of those 46 people is Robert Smith, whose story made headlines last year when he was sentenced to three years in prison for shooting a man in his own home who was attacking him. Smith had a two-decade old felony for drunk driving, making it illegal for him to have a gun. The foreman of the jury who found him guilty expressed regret but said that ultimately their hands were tied.

Elsewhere, in Jackson County, which contains Kansas City, 73 percent of people convicted of felony murder were Black. In St. Louis County, the number was 93 percent. In Green County, in southwest Missouri, the number was 34 percent despite the county having less than a 3 percent Black population.

“It’s really consistent throughout the rest of the state,” Birmingham says.

You can read Birmingham’s full investigative piece at the Appeal.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 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

12 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

12 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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