Woman pleads guilty in shooting death

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff woman was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in connection with the April shooting death of a man inside her Cynthia Street apartment and an unrelated drug charge.

Patricia N. Bales pleaded guilty to felony first-degree involuntary manslaughter and felony possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute before Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett last week, said Butler County assistant prosecuting attorney Paul Oesterreicher.

Originally charged with second-degree murder, Bales, who was among those indicted this summer by a Butler County, Missouri, grand jury, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge after Oesterreicher filed an amended information with the court.

It alleged on April 17, Bales "recklessly caused the death of Donald Perry due to Donald Perry being shot as the result of the attempted perpetration of the Class C felony of assault in the second degree of Walter Currie."

Perry, 38, of Sedgewickville, Missouri, allegedly was shot twice in the chest by Currie inside Bales' apartment in the 500 block of Cynthia Street.

Perry was taken to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and later died.

"She was given basically a seven-year (sentence) on the involuntary manslaughter, which was the maximum, and five years on the drug case," Oesterreicher said.

The sentences, Oesterreicher said, were ordered to run consecutively for a total of 12 years. The seven-year sentence also was ordered to run concurrently with a Stoddard County case.

Currie, 21, of Broseley, Missouri, had been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection to Perry's death. Oesterreicher dismissed those charges in June, however.

At the time, Oesterreicher said there was "insufficient evidence" to proceed, as Currie "appeared to be acting in self-defense."

Regarding Bales, Oesterreicher said, she never held the gun, but "she participated in an agreement with Don Perry to basically commit an assault on Walter Currie.

"When you pull a gun on somebody (and) somebody else pulls a gun on you, what do you do? That's the problem with the case," Oesterreicher said.

Oesterreicher said his goal was to send Bales to prison because of her "participation in the crime."