Suspect in fatal shooting appears in court on drug charges

The accused killer of a 17-year-old Cape Girardeau boy was ordered to proceed to trial in an unrelated drug case Tuesday.

Following the preliminary hearing for Bernard Richards, 19, Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp found sufficient evidence against the defendant to continue the case.

Richards was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia in a Jan. 5 incident where drugs were found in his car during a traffic stop in Cape Girardeau.

Three weeks later on Jan. 25, authorities say the defendant shot and killed Jacob Bowers, 17, who was attempting to rob an acquaintance. Richards is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death.

During the traffic stop Jan. 5, Cape Girardeau police officer Jeff Nichols testified Tuesday that he pulled Richards over for speeding near Broadway and Main Street.

While pulling him over, Nichols saw Richards bend over in the vehicle as if he was hiding something under his seat. The officer later saw a green, leafy substance he believed to be marijuana spread on the center console of the car.

After being granted consent to search the car, Nichols said he found one small bag of suspected marijuana and one small bag of suspected cocaine under the driver's seat, the officer testified.

In the trunk, a cigar box filled with five small bags of suspected cocaine and a backpack carrying a digital scale and more than 100 small bags typically used to package drugs were found.

Richards, who said he was a student at Shawnee Community College in Southern Illinois, denied knowledge of the drugs, which was about 17 grams of cocaine and three grams of marijuana.

He was originally free on a $35,000 bond for the drug charges, but had a $1 million bond set late Friday night for the murder charge.

Bowers' body was found around 8:16 p.m. Jan. 25 behind Du-Shell's Furniture, 2103 William St., in Cape Girardeau. An autopsy showed he died from a single gunshot wound to the torso.

The bond in the murder was originally $200,000, but the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office requested it raised because of threats the defendant had made to witnesses of the slaying.

Richards, who appeared in court with a goatee and wearing orange jail pants and an orange hooded sweatshirt, was scheduled to appear for an arraignment Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. in the drug case.

A preliminary hearing in the homicide case was scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 22.

He could face up to life in prison if convicted of the murder.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127