MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CAPE PARK KILLING

A 19-year-old man will serve 10 years in prison after admitting he fired the shot that killed another 19-year-old at Indian Park last fall, the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor said.

Robert Deniro Moore of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty in court Friday to involuntary manslaughter and possession of a stolen gun, Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said.

He was sentenced by Circuit Judge John Grimm to seven years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and three years for possession of stolen property.

Moore was originally charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jesus Sides on Oct. 19. However, in an agreement reached between public defender Patrick McMenamin and Swingle, Moore was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser crime.

The guilty plea ended an ordeal where conflicting testimony from witnesses muddled investigations.

"Moore and about everyone else thought they were being shot at, so you're left with this very confusing situation," Swingle said.

One woman told police that a man jumped out of a car, fired several shots and drove away. Another witness identified Moore's brother, Robert Criddle, as having fired shots. This resulted in murder charges against Criddle until Moore spoke with police the next day.

"Rather than keep quiet and let his brother take the rap, he voluntarily told police what happened," Swingle said.

The witness later stated he had correctly identified Moore, but police didn't understand him because the two brothers share the same first name, the prosecutor said.

Moore told investigators he had taken a .38-caliber handgun to the park that day for self defense. He claimed Sides' brother, Solomon Sides, had shot at him while he was inside his apartment a week earlier.

Moore placed his revolver and a brown glove behind the raised lid of a seat inside a portable toilet in the park about a half hour before two of his friends started a fight with Solomon Sides. One of the friends, 16-year-old Chris Sparks, started to pull out a handgun, so Solomon Sides ran to Jesus Sides to get a gun.

Both Sparks and Solomon Sides fired single shots and missed. Moore, hiding in the portable toilet, fired six shots. He had said he was aiming for Solomon Sides but accidentally hit Jesus Sides.

The difference in how Solomon Sides and Moore handled their guns determined who was charged with a crime, Swingle said.

Although Solomon Sides made sweeping motions with his gun that led Moore and others to believe he fired several shots, a ballistics expert at the Southeast Missouri Crime Lab determined only one bullet was fired.

"Moore unloaded all six of his shots, but his aim was so bad that he hit Jesus Sides sitting on a bike," Swingle said.

Solomon Sides had been arrested the day of the shooting for first-degree assault, but the prosecutor later dropped the charge.

"I believe he was acting in self-defense," Swingle said. "He was attacked by one juvenile and then saw the second juvenile with a gun."

If Solomon Sides had fired multiple gunshots, rather than shooting once and running away, the assault charge would have been pursued, he said.

In pleading guilty, Moore acknowledged that although he was shooting in self defense, his actions in firing across a public park were reckless.

"Under the law of self defense, a person is allowed to use a reasonable amount of force, even deadly force, to protect himself or another person from death or serious physical injury," Swingle said.

The recklessness of the shooting is what made Moore's actions illegal, he said.

Solomon Sides may still go to prison on unrelated charges, the prosecutor said. He was given five years probation for possession of crack cocaine last September. However, he was arrested in April for tampering with a truck, resisting arrest, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license. On May 5, Solomon Sides was charged with possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana.

"Ironically, he may end up in prison anyway," Swingle said.