Guilty verdicts returned in Super D robbery case

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Following a three-day jury trial, Troy Fenton was found guilty Friday of shooting a Sikeston Department of Public Safety officer and robbing a local pharmacy.

Fenton, 37, of Boonville, Mo., along with his brother Ernest Fenton, 43, of Fayette, Mo., robbed the Super D pharmacy in Sikeston on Oct. 10, 2001, and then ran from police to a house north of the city. They had stolen prescription narcotics, including morphine-based painkillers.

As police officers surrounded the house, they were fired upon and DPS Lt. Marc Crocker was shot in the leg. He has since recovered. The Fentons set fire to the house and came out about the time it was nearly engulfed in flames.

Troy Fenton's case was moved to St. Charles County on a change of venue. The trial began Tuesday in a secure courtroom at the St. Charles County Detention Center. Fenton had attempted to escape from custody once already since being arrested and was determined to be a security risk.

The jury took just one hour to find Fenton guilty of first -degree robbery, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. He will be sentenced March 17 on all four counts. Police have said Troy Fenton is also suspected of committing robberies at restaurants in Columbia, Fulton, Jefferson City, Boonville and Warrensburg.

Less than a day after Ernest Fenton was arrested, he apparently overdosed from drugs he had consumed before being placed in the Scott County Jail. He had just been paroled from prison before the Sikeston robbery, having served seven years for armed robbery.