Trial ends but verdict will wait in cop’s trial

ST. LOUIS — Attorneys made their final pitches Wednesday for why a former St. Louis police officer should or shouldn’t be found guilty of murder in the 2011 killing of a suspect, leaving his fate in the hands of the judge, who won’t rule until late next week at the earliest.

Jason Stockley shot 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith five times after a car chase in 2011. Stockley, who resigned in 2013 and now lives in Houston, testified Tuesday that he saw Smith holding a gun before the chase started and that he shot him because he felt he was in imminent danger.

Prosecutors, though, alleged that Stockley planted a gun in Smith’s car after he shot him. During closing arguments Wednesday, Assistant Circuit Attorney Robert Steele emphasized that dashcam video during the chase captured Stockley saying he was “Going to kill this (expletive), don’t you know it.” Less than a minute later, he did just that.

“He made a promise, ‘I’m killing the (expletive),’” Steele said. “And that’s exactly what he did.”

Stockley’s lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, dismissed the comment as “human emotions” in the context of a dangerous police pursuit. He also pointed out that the audio is muddled and that it’s hard to understand what Shockley was saying leading into that comment.

Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson gave the two sides until Aug. 18 to submit post-trial briefs, after which he’ll hand down a verdict. Stockley, who is charged with first-degree murder, was granted his request for a bench trial rather than a jury trial despite the objections of prosecutors.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Stockley could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Missouri has the death penalty, but prosecutors opted not to pursue it.

Stockley, 36, was charged last year after then-Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce cited unspecified new evidence in the case.