> View all news

Woman faces prison in shooting

By: William C. Lhotka
(reprinted from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), February 14, 2008)

A woman accused of firing shots into a mob of teens outside her house in Spanish Lake a year ago pleaded no contest in St. Louis County Circuit Court this afternoon and faces a four-year prison sentence next week. One of the teens was fatally shot and another was wounded.

Under the plea to second-degree assault, Alma King, 52, did not admit guilt but told Judge Richard C. Bresnahan that a jury was likely to convict her of the reduced assault charge if it heard the evidence.

King's son, Ahryal, 17, remains in custody and still faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. His trial is pending.

In the shooting outside the King home in the 1100 block of Prigge Avenue on the afternoon of Feb. 26 of last year, Jocquees Billups, 15, was fatally shot, and a second teenager, 16, was wounded.

Prosecutor Doug Sidel and defense attorney Andrew Hale worked out the deal that led to the no-contest plea. In exchange for the plea, the state dropped charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, and reduced the assault count to second-degree, which has a maximum of seven years in prison instead of life.

Alma King has been in jail since the shooting. She agreed to the no-contest plea and the prison sentence.

Bresnahan set sentencing for Feb. 19. Hale said the judge has decided to go along with the state's four-year recommendation. The sentencing was delayed, Hale said, so relatives of the victims in the shooting would have a chance to present to the judge victim impact statements.

Hale said the King family had installed a closed circuit security camera around their home because of past problems with area teenagers. The cameras turned out to be a boon for Alma King; perhaps, a detriment to her son at his murder trial.

Sidel said the camera caught Alma King firing one shot from a .22-caliber pistol in the general direction of the gang of teens that had congregated outside the King house and were taunting Ahryal King to come out and fight another youth.

Sidel said it appeared that shot struck a van in a driveway; Hale said he has viewed the videtape and doesn't agree that the shot hit the van.

Sidel told Bresnahan that the video showed that Ahryal King had fired a number of shots from a .22-caliber rifle. Billups died of a bullet wound from the rifle, the prosecutor said.

The actions of Alma King were the ``result of sudden passion,'' Sidel confirmed..

Hale said the shootings took place after a mob of 25 teenagers had attacked the King house. He said one shot was fired into the air and the kids disbursed; then they returned and his client had fired one shot in their general direction.

The plan to force Ahryal King to fight another youth had been hatched earlier that afternoon at Hazelwood East High School, and the word spread that a fight would take place, police said.

The King family was subjected to shouts and taunts from the street but there were no physical assaults by the youths on the family, Sidel said.

> View all news