Prosecutor releases details about murder charge filed against O’Fallon teen
.jpg "A detention hearing was conducted Tuesday for an O’Fallon teen charged with first-degree murder.")
Witnesses have allegedly told police an O’Fallon teenager fatally shot an East St. Louis woman during a drug deal in the parking lot of a public housing complex in December.
This information was released Tuesday by a St. Clair County prosecutor during a detention hearing in which a judge ruled the teenager charged with first-degree murder should remain in the county jail pending his trial.
Ricky T. Clayton, 18, was remanded to the county jail, according to an order by St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara L. Rice.
Markela Howliet, 21, of East St. Louis was fatally shot on Dec. 22 in a parking lot at the Samuel Gompers Homes in the 400 block of North Sixth Street in East St. Louis, Illinois State Police said in a news release Saturday.
St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Levi Carwile told Rice that Howliet was shot in her head while in the parking lot to buy marijuana.
Carwile also told Rice that witnesses have told investigators that Clayton was in the front passenger seat of a car when he allegedly fired three or four shots from a gun.
Clayton was represented by attorney Matthew A. Radefeld of Clayton, Missouri. Radefeld told Rice there wasn’t physical evidence to show that Clayton committed the crime and he asked if Clayton could be released on electronic monitoring so he can “clear his name.”
Radefeld also said Clayton, who is a senior in high school, didn’t have “any motive to shoot the victim.”
Clayton was charged on Friday after being arrested on Jan. 29.
In making her ruling, Rice noted Clayton has a prior juvenile charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and that he served probation on this offense. Under the “totality of the circumstances,” she found that Clayton would pose a threat to the community if he was released.
Illinois judges have been conducting detention hearings since September 2023 for people charged with serious offenses. If a judge considers a person dangerous to the community, the person can be remanded to the county jail until their trial, according to the revamped criminal justice system that eliminated cash bail as part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, Act.
