最新杏吧原创

Joshua Haegele, 23, instead pleaded guilty to one felony count that said he impeded the homicide investigation by hiding his accomplice鈥檚 body, according to court records that became accessible Thursday.

A judge sentenced him to one year in prison.

Haegele was originally charged in October 2024 with second-degree murder, attempted robbery and two counts of armed criminal action.

A co-defendant, Vernon Williams, was also charged in the case.

Investigators say the two men, along with 20-year-old Ta鈥橵on Williams and an unidentified woman, met up with their cousin on Oct. 7, 2024, to buy marijuana at a home in Ferguson. Ta鈥橵on Williams then pulled a gun on his cousin outside the home and said, 鈥淵ou know what time it is. Give it up,鈥� police wrote in charging documents.

As this happened, Vernon Williams and Haegele got out of their car and approached a person in the garage watching the robbery happen and held that person at gunpoint, police reported.

Ta鈥橵on Williams then pushed his cousin back into the garage while holding him at gunpoint, and the two tussled over the gun, investigators said. During the struggle, police said their cousin, the dealer, pulled out his gun and shot Ta鈥橵on Williams.

The cousin then ran to a neighboring home while Vernon Williams and Haegele fired their guns twice after their accomplice was shot, police wrote.

A Ring surveillance camera captured the incident, police said.

But on Thursday, 最新杏吧原创 County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith said prosecutors based their charges against Haegele on a witness who told investigators that Haegele was there when the shooting happened.

鈥淭hat essential witness 鈥� the only witness who placed (Haegele) at the scene of the robbery 鈥� refused to cooperate with prosecutors and is currently at large for failing to appear in another case where he is the defendant,鈥� she said.

Moreover, DNA testing later excluded Haegele from handling any of the guns recovered from the scene, she said.

Haegele and Vernon Williams had been charged with second-degree murder, sometimes called felony murder, even though they did not directly kill Ta鈥橵on Williams. Under Missouri law, a person can be charged with felony murder if someone is killed as a result of or during the commission of another felony crime.

When the shooting happened, Haegele had just been released from prison the week before. He served time for shooting and killing a teenager.

Ien Coleman, 14, was found shot dead July 20, 2019, in an abandoned Riverview apartment 鈥� about 15 miles from his family鈥檚 home 鈥� when someone called police and asked them to do a welfare check in the 10000 block of Toelle Lane.

Haegele鈥檚 charges said he, Coleman and others had gathered in the apartment鈥檚 bedroom the night before and that Haegele had been playing with a semiautomatic 9mm pistol when it accidentally went off and Ien was shot in the face, police said.

Haegele and others fled the apartment, leaving Ien behind, charges said. Haegele, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, told the others not to call police.

He was charged as an adult in January 2020 and he pleaded guilty months later.

The teen was sentenced to a dual jurisdiction program through youth services that enabled his release when he turned 21. If Haegele failed to comply with the Department of Youth Services probation, he鈥檇 serve up to 10 years in prison.

Ien鈥檚 parents expressed outrage at the teen鈥檚 sentence.

鈥淏ecause he was a youth, you鈥檙e allowing him to basically get away with it!鈥� Ien Coleman Sr. shouted during the 2020 hearing.

Less than two years later, Haegele鈥檚 probation was revoked and he was ordered to serve a prison sentence.

Haegele was released from the Missouri Department of Corrections on Sept. 30, 2024.

The case against Vernon Williams, Haegele鈥檚 co-defendant, no longer appears in online court records.

Court officials did not immediately explain why.