ST. LOUIS – Two men reached plea agreements with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office on Thursday in connection with shootings in 2018 that left one woman dead and a man critically injured.
William Pearson Jr., 26, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the Jan. 30, 2018, killing of Genna Clements. The shooting took place in the 5300 block of Claxton Avenue, located in the Mark Twain neighborhood.
Pearson was accused of shooting Clements and a man while they were seated in a vehicle. Clements was 42.
Prosecutors initially charged Pearson with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, and two counts of tampering with evidence.
Meanwhile, Terez Cook Jr., 23, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault for shooting at a woman on Jan. 26, 2018. That crime occurred in the 5900 block of Lillian Avenue, which is in the Walnut Park West neighborhood.
Trials for both men were set to begin on June 20.
A St. Louis Circuit Court judge agreed to the plea deals after learning from a prosecutor that the victims’ families had approved of the sentences.
Pearson was sentenced to 10 years, including more than five years of time served. Cook received a five-year sentence, but will be released because he’s been jailed longer than five years on this and other cases.
Last year, Pearson, Cook, and a third person were tried and acquitted in connection with the 2017 killing of James Scales, 16.
Scales had witnessed the shooting of Dwayne Clanton Jr., 18, in 2016.
A fourth man in that trial, Keith Graham, 25, was convicted of witness tampering and conspiracy to commit murder. Graham was sentenced to 15 years.
Pearson was also accused of killing Leon Smith Jr., 21, and wounding a woman in November 2017. A murder trial had been scheduled for November 2022, but the Circuit Attorney’s Office dropped the case on the eve of trial.