Cape murder suspect pleads not guilty in shooting death

Steven Lee Williams, the Cape Girardeau man facing second-degree murder charges, told a second judge Monday that he is not responsible for the September shooting death of 38-year-old Darcus Purl.

Williams was bound over to the higher circuit court earlier this month, after Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp ordered Williams, 34, to stand trial following a preliminary hearing Oct. 18. In his first appearance before Judge William Syler on Monday, Williams' public defender Amy Commean formally entered another not guilty plea to the murder charge and armed criminal action.

Williams is alleged to have shot Purl to death on the night of Sept. 20 after an altercation near the corner of South Ranney Avenue and Locust Street. At the time, Williams told police that he fled the altercation without firing a shot and had been shot himself. At Monday's arraignment, Commean said a motion filed by a lawyer representing Saint Francis Medical Center, where Williams was treated, needed to be addressed.

Syler set a hearing to consider that motion for Nov. 5. He also granted a defense motion to preserve any electronic evidence that had been gathered, drawing no objection from assistant prosecutor Jack Koester, who said they would have done that anyway.

Williams is being held at the Cape Girardeau County Jail in lieu of a $2 million bond.

Pertinent address:

South Ranney Avenue and Locust Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

100 Court St., Jackson, Mo.