Illinois woman convicted in murder conspiracy

Returning with a unanimous verdict, a Cape Girardeau County jury found an Illinois great-grandmother guilty of conspiracy to commit murder but asked that she not serve any prison time.

After more than two hours of deliberation, the jury recommended a five-year prison sentence for Helen A. Severs, 67, of Ullin, Ill., but additionally asked Circuit Judge John Heisserer to suspend the imposition of that sentence and place her on probation.

That request required a quick bit of legal research on behalf of the attorneys present to determine whether that was a legal option, which it is, said Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

Heisserer ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set sentencing for June 9.

"They didn't actually want to see her do any time," Heisserer said, referring to the jury. "What they indicated to us was that they were concerned about her age and whether or not she would survive a penitentiary sentence. It appears that from outset, the issue of guilt or innocence wasn't the question to them."

'A good day'

The small-framed, gray-haired woman, sat calmly between her attorneys throughout the trial, but shed tears when taking the stand. She received the verdict with good composure, said defense attorney Bryan Keller.

"It's like I told her afterward, any day you go to a jury trial and don't go home to a prison is a good day," Keller said.

Still, Swingle said the jury delivered a strong message.

"What they said in their verdict was that even if you feel someone is a child molester, that doesn't give you a right to kill them," he said. "We live in a system of laws and you cannot take the law into your own hands."

A defense strategy based on fear failed to convince the jury Severs did not conspire to murder her granddaughter's husband, Michael Ravellette, with her daughter, Linda Myers.

Myers, 50, of Jonesboro, Ill., received a six-year prison sentence March 24 when she pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

Public defenders Jason Tilley and Keller argued fear drove Severs to give her daughter $75 to buy a gun because she was afraid of Ravellette, and that fear drove her to make threatening statements that were recorded when she spoke to an undercover officer posing as a thug offering a gun.

Severs appeared quite chatty with undercover Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Terry Mills on the Aug. 26 tape about her reasons for wanting Ravellette dead because she believed he sexually molested his 3-year-old step-daughter.

Jail meeting

Witness Glenda Phillips had met Myers in jail when Myers was in jail for writing bad checks. She said Myers asked her about buying a gun and continued to harass her with phone calls about it at her home. Phillips contacted law enforcement. Mills used Phillips' phone to set up the gun buy with Myers at the Westfield Shoppingtown West Park parking lot Aug. 26.

Another undercover officer sold Myers the 9-mm semi-automatic handgun and she was arrested.

Mills called Severs later that night. In their taped conversation, she admitted she provided the money, outlined her motives and asked about making a homemade silencer out of a plastic soda pop bottle.

She described her devotion to the child, desiring that the girl live with her so much she that even decorated a bedroom for her with toys.

"It looks like a little princess room," she said on the tape.

Officers arrested her the next day and interviewed her for two hours, but they did not record the interrogation, which resulted in a courtroom disagreement between the prosecution and defense over Severs' treatment by officers.

Severs testified she wanted the gun for suicide and had been seeking a permit to buy one legally. She told the prosecutor she thought the gun would be legal to buy.

But Swingle reminded her that she was recorded telling Mills she wanted an untraceable gun, which the prosecutor said is unnecessary for a suicide and certainly illegal to possess. The gun sold to Myers had its serial number scratched off.

"I need one that they can't trace," she said on the tape. "If they can't find the weapon they can't prove nothing."

Swingle took an offensive posture in his cross-examination.

"If you wanted to buy a gun legally why not just go to Wal-Mart?" he asked.

Severs did not have a clear answer, except to say that she could not afford a store-bought gun and that the gun being traceable wouldn't have mattered if she committed suicide.

She maintained that there was no plan to kill Ravellette, but had talked several times about what she'd like to do to him or see done to him for allegedly abusing the child.

What Severs did do was report the suspected abuse to the Illinois Division of Child and Family Services. An investigation by the agency later determined the allegations were unfounded, Swingle said.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160