Trial date set for suspect in robbery

Standard Democrat

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- The jury trial for Troy Fenton, charged with the Oct. 10, 2001, robbery of the Super D Drug Store in Sikeston, Mo., is set for Jan. 7 in a secure courtroom at the St. Charles County Detention Center.

As Fenton has escaped from custody once already since being arrested for the incident, he was determined to be a security risk.

In April, Fenton was arraigned in Scott County on charges of first degree robbery of a pharmacy and first degree assault of a law enforcement officer. The case was transferred to St. Charles County for the trial on a change of venue motion filed by Fenton's attorney, Jacob Zimmerman.

Monday, Fenton appeared before St. Charles County Circuit Judge Nancy L. Schneider who heard several pretrial motions for the Scott County criminal case.

According to authorities, after the robbery, Fenton and his brother, Ernest L. Fenton, allegedly exchanged gunfire with police at the Mini Farms subdivision off of Highway HH north of Sikeston.

During the exchanges of gunfire, Lt. Mark Crocker of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety was shot in the lower leg.

If convicted, Fenton will face multiple life sentences in prison.

Following their arrest, Ernest Fenton was found unconscious on the floor of his Scott County Jail cell by a fellow inmate.

He was rushed by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy didn't immediately reveal a cause of death.