A day after murder trial begins, East St. Louis man pleads guilty to reduced charge

The day after his trial began in the 2021 shooting death of a 16-year-old, an East St. Louis man pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Barneshio A. White II, 29, formerly of the 800 block of 84th Street in East St. Louis, initially was charged with first-degree murder. On Tuesday, before he faced a St. Clair County jury for a second day, he accepted a second-degree murder charge and a negotiated sentence of 10 years in a state prison, said Chris Allen, director of communications for the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office.

Additional charges of Illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and intimidation were dismissed as part of the deal, Allen said. The intimidation charge stemmed from White’s alleged attempt to prevent a witness from calling the police to tell them he had shot Williams, according to the criminal complaint.

White’s attorney, Kristi Flint, said she could not discuss the details of the plea negotiation other than to say her client is “very happy with the outcome as is his family.”

According to the criminal complaint, East St. Louis police were dispatched at 3:49 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2021, to North 84th Street at Washington Street to investigate a call that someone had been shot and was not breathing. Troy Williams, 16, subsequently was pronounced dead at the scene.

White was convicted in 2019 on a felony charge of aggravated unlawful restraint. He was found not guilty on a related charge of aggravated kidnapping with a firearm.

The case was jointly investigated by the East St. Louis Police Department, Illinois State Police Public Safety Enforcement Group, the St. Clair County Coroner and St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office.

This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 4:20 PM.