Robber sentenced to probation; heist led indirectly to homicide

A Sikeston, Missouri, woman was sentenced to five years probation for her involvement in a robbery that is alleged to have led indirectly to the March 31 shooting death of Airious Darling in Cape Girardeau.

Maishael A. Miles, 19, received an eight-year suspended sentence for second-degree robbery. She pleaded guilty Oct. 24.

Part of the conditions for her probation will be to submit to regular blood and urine tests for drugs and alcohol.

“I would like to apologize to the court,” Miles said. “I really don’t want to go to prison. I was influenced by the wrong people. I’m not really a violent person.”

Corey Gilbert testified during a preliminary hearing he was drinking and smoking marijuana with Miles in early January at his house on Locust Street. A jar of marijuana and $350 were visible on Gilbert’s table, Gilbert testified.

Miles left and returned to the house with three men Gilbert did not recognize, he testified. They hit Gilbert with a bottle of whiskey, stole the marijuana and money and left the scene in Miles’ vehicle, Gilbert said.

Gilbert said about a month after the robbery, he confronted Tavious Tipler, 19, of Cape Girardeau on the street. Gilbert said he recognized Tipler from the robbery.

Witnesses said Tipler later shot and killed Darling, 28, of Cape Girardeau, who was returning Gilbert’s 1-year-old daughter from babysitting, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Bollinger County/Cape Girardeau County Major Case Squad member Cpl. JA Lacey.

Darling and Gilbert were thin and wore their hair in dreadlocks. A witness testified Tipler told him he mistook Darling for Gilbert.

When Tipler was arrested April 3, he told police Miles was the mastermind of the robbery, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Cape Girardeau police detective Jeff Bonham.

Another man involved in the robbery, Ce’one K. Tidwell, 18, of Cape Girardeau, received the same sentence as Miles.

Judge Benjamin Lewis said he could give Miles a harsher sentence, considering Tidwell also received probation, and he was one of the three men who beat up Gilbert.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 612 Locust St., Cape Girardeau, MO