Man gets probation for killing boy who broke into his car

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man has been sentenced to three years of probation for being a felon in possession of the gun he used to kill a 13-year-old boy who was trying to steal from his car.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported 60-year-old Lervurance McDade was sentenced Tuesday after prosecutors declined to seek more serious charges because of the latitude Missouri’s castle doctrine law allows in use of deadly force.

The shooting happened in November 2015 when McDade fatally shot 13-year-old Martinez Smith-Payne. Smith-Payne’s cousin has said the boys, along with an 11-year-old friend, were looking for pocket change in the car.

Martinez was a seventh-grader.

McDade had pleaded guilty in 1989 to weapons charges in Pemiscot County in Southeast Missouri.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com