After what one judge called "a roller coaster," the cases against two men accused of killing a 7-year-old and her father more than two years ago have been set for trial.
This is hardly the first time that the murder cases against Javonn Nettles and Andre Anderson have been set for trial but, in a signal of increased confidence in the prosecutor's office under Gabe Gore, court watchers expect these new trial dates to actually hold true.
Nettles and Anderson are charged with murdering a child, Dmyah Fleming, and her father, Darrion Rankin-Fleming, in January 2021 near Saint Louis University. The killing shocked the Central West End and Midtown neighborhoods as well as the city as a whole. Then-Mayor Lyda Krewson wrote on Twitter, "Absolutely heartbroken tonight over the senseless killings of these two people — especially this young child caught up in a deadly dispute among adults. … Prayers to their families."
Police had both Nettles and Anderson arrested by May 2021, but the prosecution against them stalled and then, earlier this year, became the center of the firestorm leading up to the resignation of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Prosecutors had dismissed and refiled the charges against Nettles on the eve of trial last July, a delay tactic common under Gardner.
Twice in April, the prosecutor assigned to the case, Chris Desilets, failed to show up for hearings in a separate case also in front of Judge Michael Noble. The judge wasn't having it. He found there was sufficient reason to hold both Gardner and Desilets in contempt of court for their mishandling of the case. At a hearing in April, he coined the phrase "rudderless ship of chaos" to describe the prosecutor's office under Gardner.
Also in April, attorneys for Anderson and Nettles filed motions to have those cases dismissed. Gardner resigned a month later.
The purpose of today's hearing was for Noble to rule on those motions to dismiss filed by the defense.
Nettles' attorney Terry Niehoff argued that the Circuit Attorney's Office had for more than two years failed to produce a significant amount of evidence in the case, including information related to search warrants, Facebook chat logs and phone records.
He conceded that the material had by now been handed over, but he thought the delay significant enough to warrant the case getting tossed out.
"The state will say we eventually did turn it over, no harm, no foul," Niehoff told Judge Noble. "But it is a harm. It is a foul."
Prosecutor Marvin Teer for the Circuit Attorney's Office countered that issues related only to delays, rather than non-disclosures, were not enough to have a case thrown out.
"That's the argument they always make," Niehoff quipped.
Though Judge Noble conceded that the case had been on a "roller coaster," he ultimately sided with the prosecution. While setting a trial for the two cases, he seemed to indicate that, to his mind, the Circuit Attorney's Office has a bit more rudder and a little less chaos than it once did.
"Now that the Circuit Attorney's Office is ramping up its staff, we can pick a date [for the trial]," he said.
Noble set Anderson to go to trial in November, Nettles the month after.
Elsewhere in the 22nd Circuit Court, another judge was more direct with his comments about the Circuit Attorney's Office under Gore, who took over the office almost exactly one month ago.
In the courtroom of Judge Bryan Hettenbach, who also played a supporting role in the Gardner saga earlier this year, a plea hearing was held in the murder case of Brian Williams. He is accused of killing another man he was riding in a car with on Interstate 70 in May 2020.
Williams had been offered a plea deal of 15 years on the murder charge and another five on the armed criminal action count he's facing.
The victim’s family was in court voicing opposition to the deal.
Judge Hettenbach, speaking to the victim's brother, said he didn't want to sway his thinking one way or the other on the deal. However he voiced confidence in the prosecutors who had negotiated with the defense.
"I'm going to say the quiet part out loud," Judge Hettenbach said. "The lawyers dealing with this case on the state's side are better now. They know what they're doing this time around."
As of right now, the Williams case is set for trial in October, though a plea agreement could change that.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that then-Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Desilets missed two hearings in the cases of Nettles and Anderson. He missed two hearings in the case of Steven Vincent, which was also in front of Judge Michael Noble in April. We regret the error.
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