CRIME: WOMAN FACES NEW MURDER CHARGE

After being charged with first-degree murder in the 7-year-old death of her boyfriend, a Jackson, Mo., woman is back at work as a supervisor for the handicapped.

Connie N. Pair, 44, who is charged with first-degree murder in the 1993 shooting death of Rocky Ice in Poplar Bluff, Mo., pleaded innocent on Thursday.

Pair was released last week after her original bond of $250,000 was lowered to $75,000. She was able to post bond Oct. 18 and go back to work with the handicapped at VIP Industries Sheltered Workshop in Fruitland, Mo.

This isn't the first time Pair has been charged with murder in connection with Ice's death, and to some who have known her at the workshop, the latest charge seems unbelievable.

"When I heard about this, I thought that someone had opened the wrong file," said Shirley Nabe, whose disabled daughter attends the workshop.

In 1996, three years after investigators originally had decided it was justifiable homicide, Pair was charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and conspiracy to commit murder. But after her trial was moved to Howell County on a change of venue, a judge dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.

However, Pair's son, Charles L. Jones, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting and was sentenced to nine and one-half years in prison. Jones was 15 at the time of the shooting but was certified in circuit court as an adult.

At the request of the victim's relatives, the Missouri attorney general's office began a new investigation into the killing early this year.

Based on his investigation, James Weber of the attorney general's office said in a court document that Pair had convinced her son and his girlfriend, Ice's daughter, that Ice had to be killed because he was abusing Pair and taking narcotics.

Pair assisted in the planning, execution and coverup of the killing by having Jones shoot Ice when he returned home, Weber said in a probable cause affidavit.

Pair has been an employee of VIP Industries for about five years and has done a good job, said Hillary Schmittzehe, operator of the workshop.

After Pair was charged with murder last week, Schmittzehe said he discussed the issue with the VIP board. Board members agreed that Pair was innocent until proven guilty and should stay, he said.

Pair is better than many other supervisors who have been at the workshop, said Nabe.

"She and her husband go out of their way to be helpful," Nabe said. "She seems to be able to put herself at their level."

Don Hanscom said his handicapped daughter saw a newspaper story about Pair being charged with murder. She took it into her room, read it, and hasn't said a word, Hanscom said.

"The kids out there think the world of her," said Hanscom, whose daughter has been at the Fruitland workshop for several years. "We all wish this was behind Connie."

Ella Pleasant's son also attends the workshop, but she isn't satisfied with the VIP board's decision. She said they should use more discretion before allowing someone charged with a crime to come back to work until charges are cleared.

"I'm not sure whether they're sheltering the handicapped or criminals," Pleasant said.