Colin Flaherty: How Witness Intimidation Skews Black Crime NUMBAHS 2018

How Witness Intimidation Affects Black Crime NUMBAHS 2018 - Witness Intimidation Criminals Go Free Skews the Crime Statistics Data - Colin Flaherty reviews and gives commentary on news with headlines "Two charged with threatening witnesses in St. Louis murder trial" and "No-show witness triggers dismissal of double-murder retrial in St. Louis"Show more

POSTED 1:36 PM, JUNE 26, 2018, BY STAFF WRITER, UPDATED AT 04:56PM, JUNE 26, 2018
ST. LOUIS, MO — Two men are charged with tampering with a victim and witness in a St. Louis city murder. Larry Strickland, 31 and Anthony D. Demyers, 33, face the witness intimidation charges in connection with the murder of Gentrail Wafford.

Court documents say that two gunmen identified as Terrance Williams and Brandon Cross shot and killed Gentrail Wafford during a robbery attempt in the 1400 block of Desoto on June 8, 2017. Wafford pulled out his gun to defend Roderick Silinzy, but was killed in the shootout.

Terrance Williams, 29, was charged in July 2017 for Gentrail Wafford's murder. The Circuit Attorney's Office says that investigators started to listen to his jail calls after the death of Roderick Silinzy. He was a cooperating witness in the murder case against Williams. He died from gunshot wounds after his car crashed into an abandoned building in May 2018.

Investigators learned that Williams was relaying the identities of cooperating witnesses in his murder trial to Strickland. They say he got that information through paperwork obtained by his co-defendant Brandon Cross. Strickland and Demyers allegedly worked together to dissuade Silinzy, and the two other witnesses from cooperating in the prosecution of Williams and Cross.