POLICE JUSTIFIED IN SHOOTING; CORONER'S JURY RULES IN DRUG SUSPECT'S DEATH

The shooting death of a 20-year-old man by Cape Girardeau police was ruled justifiable homicide Friday at a coroner's inquest.

A jury panel of three men and three women took 20 minutes to decide that Sgt. Brad Moore and Cpl. Keith May acted in self-defense when they shot Matthew S. Marsh during a drug investigation.

"It gives me a point of closure," Moore said after the hearing. "Now I have a chance to get my career back on track and recover."

May and Moore responded to the Super 8 Motel at 2011 N. Kingshighway on Feb. 10 while investigating a tip from the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force. May was shot in the abdomen by a .380-caliber handgun, and Moore was hit in his left shoulder.

Moore told the jury that he was contacted about 7:30 p.m. by a member of the Task Force who had been observing Marsh and his girlfriend, Jenna McDaniel, earlier that day. He had received information that they had returned to their motel room, but the narcotics officer was off duty. He asked if Moore and May could investigate.

Acting on a tip

May, who had previously worked for the Task Force seven years, said he knocked for several minutes before McDaniel opened the door. May explained that they had been told illegal drugs were in the room, and they asked for permission to search.

After some discussion with McDaniel, both officers entered the room.

"The room reeked of ether, so we knew that they were probably making methamphetamine," Moore said.

McDaniel took a seat on a bed while Marsh leaned against the headrest of the other bed. May asked both for identification. McDaniel handed him her checkbook with identification cards, while Marsh said he had no identification with him.

After originally giving his consent to search the room, Marsh changed his mind and told the officers they'd have to get a warrant. May told Marsh they would get a warrant, but one officer would remain in the room while they waited.

Marsh cursed, May said, and told them they could search.

Moore began to search around dressers and a television stand while May stood at the foot of Marsh's bed. Moore found a white glass with a butter knife and white residue inside. The residue was later found to be methamphetamine.

When May asked Marsh about the glass, he said it wasn't his and it had been in the room before he and McDaniel arrived.

Reaching for guns

Marsh then stood up and was ordered to sit down by May. Marsh began to reach under the bed covers.

May asked Marsh what he was doing, but before either officer could react Marsh lunged off of the bed swinging a handgun toward Moore.

At the same moment, May said he reached for his .40-caliber handgun in his holster.

"I don't know if I shot before he did or when he did," May said.

May recalled that Marsh then turned his gun on him and moved it back toward Moore. That's when Marsh fell between the beds.

Although neither officer could recall how many shots were fired, an investigator for the Missouri State Highway Patrol found 14 shell casings from the officers' weapons and two from Marsh's gun.

Unused ammunition was found in both of Marsh's front pockets.

An autopsy showed Marsh was shot nine times, said Mike Hurst, Cape Girardeau County coroner. Bullets had fractured his jaw and penetrated several internal organs, he said.

During the shooting, McDaniel had curled up on the bed "in a fetal position," May said.

A 50-minute taped police interview with McDaniel was played for the jurors. Throughout the recording, McDaniel cried and said she never knew that Marsh, her boyfriend for two months, had a gun.

John Hodges, who said Hurst had asked him to serve on the jury, said the decision to rule the homicide self-defense was "a no-brainer."

However, he said the police department's procedures during searches might come under internal scrutiny as a result of the shooting.