Case against double-murder suspect continued

The case against a Cape Girardeau man accused of gunning down two people after a verbal altercation was continued Monday to give him time to hire a new attorney.

Kenneth Bell has been charged with armed criminal action and two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 7 shooting deaths of Shannon James and Misty Cole.

Bell pleaded not guilty to the charges March 11.

Bell's attorney, assistant public defender Michael Sato, is leaving the area later this month to take a position with a public defender's office on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Judge Benjamin Lewis agreed to pass the case to July 8 to give the Cape Girardeau County public defender's office time to assign someone else to represent Bell.

At a March 7 hearing at which Judge Gary Kamp ordered Bell to stand trial on the charges, a friend of James testified that Bell apparently became angry after James bumped into him on a Cape Girardeau sidewalk.

According to testimony by Argentry Marshall, Bell and James exchanged words, and James eventually walked away and went to his apartment at 401 S. Pacific St.

As James and Marshall entered the front of the building, Bell came from the back of the building, where his apartment was located, with a semi-automatic handgun in his hand, Marshall testified.

Sgt. Don Perry of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said in court that Bell admitted he opened fire when Cole opened the door to let James into the apartment.

Perry said Bell told him he didn't know James and Cole by name and had only seen them in the apartment building.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 S. Pacific St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.