Man charged with murder in Illinois set for trial April 20

A Cape Girardeau County man facing a murder charge in St. Clair County, Illinois, is set for trial in April.

Anthony P. Allen, 22, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 9 shooting death of 25-year-old Darrin B. Hayes of Belleville, Illinois.

Allen was arrested about an hour after St. Clair County sheriff's deputies were called to an apartment in an unincorporated area of Belleville and found Hayes, who had been shot multiple times, according to a news release issued at the time by the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

Online court records list a Jackson address for Allen. It was not clear why he was in Belleville, whether he knew Hayes or what might have prompted the shooting.

Allen has a history of prior offenses, including several drug convictions, in Missouri and Illinois.

In September 2013, he pleaded guilty in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, to possession of a controlled substance and was placed on 120 days shock incarceration, followed by five years of supervised probation, to run concurrently with an identical sentence on an identical charge from March 2013 in Cape Girardeau County.

In July 2013, he also pleaded guilty in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court to resisting or interfering with arrest and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, with credit for time served.

Online St. Clair County court records show he has prior convictions for marijuana possession in 2011 and early 2014, and a 2013 telephone harassment case is pending against him.

Allen is set for a jury trial April 20 on the murder charge.

His co-defendant, 27-year-old Amanda Kent, is set for trial in February.

Another woman, 25-year-old Brittney Y. Moore, was charged with obstructing justice in connection with the case.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Belleville, ILL.