CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A Cape Girardeau anti-crime activist is outraged that the community wasn’t promptly notified that a 2015 shooting was solved without a murder charge.
The Southeast Missouri reports that Police Chief Wes Blair says the county prosecutor found “insufficient evidence to refute Jarvis Patterson’s claim of self-defense” in the death of 42-year-old Howard Harris Smith Jr. But because Patterson wasn’t supposed to have a gun because of his criminal record, he pleaded guilty in federal court to a gun charge.
The 30-year-old was released from federal prison in July and arrested again in November on drug and domestic assault charges. He’s jailed on $30,000 bond.
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Community leader Felice Patton says it’s “not right” that the information wasn’t shared with the public. She heads up Cape Girardeau’s Stop Needless Acts of Violence.
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Information from: Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com
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