Marlowe pleads guilty, avoids another jury trial

Troy E. Marlowe's guilty plea Monday in Jackson to two felonies came nearly three years after a Cape Girardeau County jury convicted him of the same meth-related crimes. That conviction was overturned in November by the Missouri Supreme Court because Marlowe, as a white defendant, had protested the prosecutor disqualifying the only black member of the jury pool.

But instead of facing another jury with the same evidence that convicted him previously, Marlowe, 31, accepted a deal from Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle: plead guilty now to armed criminal action and resisting arrest and serve only two seven-year prison sentences concurrently.

Marlowe and two accomplices attempted to steal anhydrous ammonia from the Whitewater co-op Nov. 15, 1999. When investigators stepped in to arrest them, Marlowe drove into a state trooper, Aaron Harrison, with his van and was found in possession of a firearm. A jury originally sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Marlowe was sentenced again Monday by Presiding Circuit Judge William Syler, the same judge who presided over his jury trial in November 2000.

His sentence term was shorter this time because of a Senate bill recently signed by Gov. Bob Holden that reduced the amount of time prior and persistent offenders must serve when convicted of class D felonies from 10 years to seven, Swingle said.

The prosecutor was less enthused about the shorter sentence but is glad to see the case is finished, he said.

"I kind of feel like lightning struck this case twice," Swingle said. "The first time was when it went to the Supreme Court and I had the only jury reversal of my career. And then it struck again when the governor signed this bill. I guess it was just not meant to be that he'd get that 20-year sentence."

Swingle has maintained that he did not remove the pool member on racial grounds, but because he didn't think she would be a good juror for the state.

mwells@semissourian.com

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