Plea deal for ex-St. Louis cop in colleague's beating

ST. LOUIS -- A former St. Louis police officer who has twice faced trial on federal charges in the 2017 beating of a Black undercover police officer has agreed to a plea deal in the case, his lawyer said.

Under the agreement, Christopher Myers will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of deprivation of rights, attorney Scott Rosenblum told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In return, he would receive probation and no prison time for his alleged role in the beating of detective Luther Hall during protests in September 2017.

Rosenblum said Myers, who is white, also will admit to damaging Hall's phone by throwing it. Myers has been accused of destroying Hall's cellphone to impede the investigation.

It will be up to a judge to accept or reject the plea agreement.

Two juries in separate trials earlier this year were unable to reach a verdict in cases where Myers faced charges of destruction of evidence. In his first trial in March, Myers was acquitted of a civil rights violation count.

Myers was one of several officers charged in Hall's beating. Randy Hays was sentenced in July to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty in 2019 to using unreasonable and excessive force in the beating. Dustin Boone was convicted in June of deprivation of rights under the law and is set to be sentenced in November. Bailey Colletta was sentenced to three years' probation for lying to the FBI and a grand jury about the beating.

In March, a jury acquitted officer Steven Korte of charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and of lying to the FBI about the attack.

Prosecutors have said the officers mistakenly believed Hall was participating in a protest in September 2017 following the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white officer accused of fatally shooting a Black man after a high-speed chase. Hall required multiple surgeries after the beating, which he said left him with permanent damage. He settled a lawsuit against the police for $5 million earlier this year.