TWO TRIED FOR MURDER IN DEATH OF ATTENDANT

BENTON, Mo. -- More than two years after the death of a gas station attendant, the trial of two Scott County men for killing and robbery began Tuesday.

Orlandis Farr of Malden, Mo., and Michael Bell of Sikeston, Mo., are facing a jury trial for the shooting death of Charles Garrett, who worked at the former Kellett Oil Co. in Sikeston.

Police report that a 911 call was made from the gas station at 109 S. Main St. shortly before 3 a.m. on June 6, 1998, but the phone was left off the hook. When police arrived, they found Garrett, 31, lying face down with a bullet wound to his head and the cash register open and empty.

Prosecutor Marvin Teer from the Missouri Attorney General's office told the jury in his opening statement that physical evidence and witness testimony link Farr, 22, and Bell, 21, to the crime.

After investigators found a revolver, baseball caps and red and blue bandannas tossed in an alley near the gas station, Teer explained, police used tire tracks found near these items to narrow down a list of possible suspects.

They found only a few vehicles in the area with a wheel base that would match the tires, Teer said.

But investigators got a break when two men were arrested in Cape Girardeau about six weeks later for a gas station robbery with several similarities to the robbery in Sikeston, the prosecutor told the jury.

The two men arrested in Cape Girardeau said they had got the idea for the robbery from Michael Hatcher, 21, of Sikeston.

After police found that Hatcher's tires matched the imprints near the scene of the robbery, he was arrested.

In exchange for an agreement to charge Hatcher only for robbery, he told the Scott County prosecutor's office who his three accomplices were, Teer said.

Hatcher told the prosecutor that Darius Nicholson of Columbia, Mo., had shot Garrett, while Bell and Farr stood watch outside. As a result, Hatcher was found guilty of robbery, charges of murder were not pursued, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Defense attorneys Stephen Wilson and Karen Bolton said that Hatcher, the prosecution's chief witness, is not credible.

In her opening argument, Bolton told the jury that Hatcher had given testimonies under oath six times about the crime, and his story has not been consistent.

"What was said at the beginning is not being said now," said Bolton, who is representing Farr.

Wilson, representing Bell, stated that it took Hatcher a considerable amount of time to remember who his accomplices were, and they were charged 15 months after the crime.