Clay Waller set to change plea in murder case

Convicted murderer James Clay Waller II is expected to plead guilty today in federal court in St. Louis to a charge of committing interstate domestic violence in the death of his estranged wife, court records suggest.

On Sept. 28, six days after the case was set for trial, U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig issued an order setting a change-of-plea hearing. It will be at 12:30 p.m.

Waller entered a not-guilty plea May 24, 2016, to one count of committing interstate domestic violence in connection with the murder.

At a hearing in federal court in Cape Girardeau in August before a different judge, Waller withdrew his pretrial motions, including motions to suppress evidence and dismiss the charge against him.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Abbie Crites-Leoni accepted his decision but only after repeatedly questioning Waller as to whether he understood the consequences of his decision.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing an orange Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, jail uniform, Waller said little during the brief court appearance.

He kept his head down during much of the hearing and replied to the judge’s questions with one-word answers of “yeah” and “yes.”

Crites-Leoni said in court in August that Waller’s not-guilty plea on the federal charge had not been withdrawn.

She told the defendant he could “challenge the government’s case at trial.”

The case had been set for jury trial Oct. 16 in federal court in Cape Girardeau.

Waller was sentenced in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in June 2013 to second-degree murder in the 2011 death of his estranged wife, Jacque Waller, in Jackson.

As part of a plea agreement, Waller showed authorities where he had buried her body in Southern Illinois.

On May 19, 2016, federal prosecutors charged Waller with one count of committing interstate domestic violence in the murder of his wife.

Conviction on that charge could carry a life sentence unless there is a plea agreement.

Cheryl Brenneke, Jacque Waller’s sister, welcomed the federal prosecution, as did Ruby Rawson, Jacque’s mother.

“We are so happy at the thought of never having to worry about him breathing fresh air again,” Brenneke said in 2016.

Rawson said at the time law enforcement did “a tremendous job.”

The Southeast Missourian reached out to Brenneke and Rawson by Facebook message Wednesday to obtain comment on the plea change.

Neither message was returned by late afternoon.

Clay Waller’s attorney, John Lynch, filed a motion earlier this year, seeking to have the charge dismissed on grounds of double jeopardy, violation of due process and failure to state an offense against the United States. In that motion, Lynch argued the federal government essentially was prosecuting Waller for the same offense four years later, in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against “double jeopardy.”

Lynch called it “an unnecessary” prosecution.

According to the motion, Waller said he entered into a plea agreement on the state charge and agreed to show authorities where he buried the body on the belief he would face no other charges in connection with the crime.

But assistant federal prosecutor Larry Ferrell filed a response stating the latest prosecution does not constitute double jeopardy.

Prosecutors said the federal charge is different from the state charge. Waller’s repeated admissions to the crime were made voluntarily, and he repeatedly was advised pleading guilty to the murder charge in state court would not prevent him from being prosecuted in federal court, Ferrell said in a court document.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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