Area resident sentenced to 25 years for murder

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Quiet sobs filled the St. Francois County courtroom as a judge sentenced a Jackson woman to 25 years in prison for planning the murder of her boyfriend, Rocky Gene Ice.

This came after Connie Noreen Pair, aka Connie Jones, 46, pleaded guilty in July to an amended Class A felony of second-degree murder. That charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to 30 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Pair had originally been charged with the Class A felony of first-degree murder in connection with Ice's death on Aug. 4, 1993.

Rocky Ice, 38, died from shots to the back and chest from a .35-caliber rifle. He was killed at a Highway 53 residence that he shared with Pair, her then 15-year-old son, Charles Jones, and his then 14-year-old daughter, Shauna Ice.

At the time of her July plea, Senior Judge Paul McGhee ordered that the Office of Probation and Parole do a pre-sentence investigation.

That PSI, as well as several statements made by members of the victim's family and attorneys for both sides were taken into consideration before McGhee issued his ruling.

When McGhee asked assistant attorney general Kevin Zoellner for his recommendation on the sentence, Zoellner said, he was asking that Pair receive the 30-year maximum.

"She decided to take him out and end his life," he said.

Zoellner said Pair put her son and the victim's daughter up to doing her "dirty work. ... Charlie went to prison for shooting Rocky Ice."

Had the case gone to trial, Zoellner said, Pair's videotaped confession would have been presented to the court.

In that confession, Zoellner said, Pair told officers how she "convinced the kids they had to kill Rocky or he would kill them.

"She instructed them to shoot and kill him and to make sure he was dead."

Zoellner said Pair also told officers how she instructed the teens to plant a gun and use gloves from the bathroom to remove Charles Jones' fingerprints from the gun.

Shauna Ice, according to Zoellner, had been instructed to pick up the gun and "rough up" Charles Jones' arms so it appeared there had been a struggle. The girl was then reportedly to confess to shooting her father in defense of Charles Jones.

According to earlier newspaper reports, Charles Jones, pleaded guilty to the Class B felony of voluntary manslaughter on Oct. 21, 1998, in Stoddard County for his role in Rocky Ice's death.

Presiding Circuit Judge Stephen Sharp sentenced Charles Jones to 9 1/2 years. At his sentencing, he was given credit for the 2 1/2 years he had already been imprisoned.

Charles Jones, who was certified to stand trial as an adult, had originally been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

According to a spokesman with the Poplar Bluff Probation and Parole office, Charles Jones was released from prison on June 22, 2001.

He remains on supervised parole on the voluntary manslaughter charge from Stoddard County.

His parole will reportedly expire Dec. 4, 2005.