Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009

Man gets more time after retrial in Granite City murder

A jury on Tuesday found a St. Louis man guilty of second-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and armed violence.

Andrew Scott Jr., 27, was convicted of shooting to death Carmel Brown, a 28-year-old mother of two from Granite City, on Jan. 25, 2004.

Scott pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2006 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. An appellate court later ordered a new trial, finding he had not been made aware of some of his rights.

"After the appellate decision, he could have gotten a 22-year sentence that he would have had to serve at 100 percent," St. Clair County State's Attorney Bob Haida said. "Or he could have a new trial on all charges. He chose the trial."

After his conviction, Scott now faces a 31-year minimum that he must serve at 85 percent -- about 26 years, Haida said.

Thomas Q. Keefe III and Lloyd Cueto Jr. represented Scott at his new trial. Keefe noted that the sentence could have been much longer had the jury convicted Scott of first-degree murder.

"We are putting it in the win column," Keefe said. "...Going to trial was a calculated gamble by Andrew and he understood that."

The jury deliberated three hours before rendering their verdict.

Brown and another woman argued inside the Four Corners Lounge at 7510 Old Missouri Road in the early morning hours.

After the two were ejected from the bar, a fight began on the lounge parking lot between one of Brown's friends and Scott and his co-defendant, Patrick D. "Big Pat" Johnson, 28, of East St. Louis.

Johnson and Scott followed the 1998 Cadillac driven by Brown, police said, and fired into the vehicle, striking Brown, Latisha Samuels and Artimus Collier.

The car veered off Old Missouri Road, and police found Brown, the mother an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old, slumped over the steering wheel with a gunshot wound to her head.

Samuels was shot in the leg, Collier in the stomach.

"I regret everything that happened. I regret that Carmel Brown lost her life, but I didn't mean to do it," Scott testified on Tuesday. "I never intended to kill anyone."

Johnson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years.

Scott is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 24.