ST. LOUIS – An alleged violent suspect was murdered on Thursday, the same day a judge cleared him of a violent crime.
Levi Henning, 21, faced a 2018 robbery charge that had just been wiped clean when Henning’s attorney, W. David Mueller, learned of the murder.
“(My client) was on his way to court to appear, and he was murdered outside of his own home,” Mueller said.
He said he had just secured a judge’s order clearing his client.
“This should have been one of the most joyous days of his life,” Mueller said. “…and he never got to experience it. He was two hours from freedom.”
Henning was shot to death around 8:20 a.m. Thursday. The Homicide Division of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was on the scene. Investigators reported that Henning suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and head.
“The family is obviously in deep pain. This should have been a restart to his life,” Mueller said.
Henning was also once charged with the 2020 murder of Parkway West High School student Carieal Doss. Then in March, FOX 2 broke the story when the Circuit Attorney’s Office, under Kim Gardner’s tenure, dropped the case because of a failure to turn over evidence.
“I don’t know if (the evidence) got lost; I don’t know if they didn’t feel it was important, but they never turned it over in time,” Johnetta, Doss’s mother said in May.
At that time, Henning remained locked up on a 2018 robbery charge – but not for long.
“As you’ll remember, there was DNA evidence that the state withheld for years in the murder case that came back to a separate individual,” Mueller said. “Well, when I really dove back into the robbery case, I found out there was the same issue. There’s still DNA evidence I have never received.”
Henning was freed on bond on May 18 – as Mueller argued that the 2018 robbery case should be thrown out for violation of speedy trial rights. The judge agreed.
“He was completely free,” Mueller said. “Every case had been dismissed at that point, and you get the news that he was – you know, I was expecting him to be in court.”
Instead, St. Louis police were gathering evidence in Henning’s murder – at the precise moment, a judge was clearing him.
FOX 2 reached out to Johnetta, who said she heard the news from police Thursday – and is simply speechless. She said she was also unaware until we told her, that a judge had just cleared Henning in his second violent criminal case. Johnetta said she wasn’t surprised, however, based on a history of prosecution bungles.
There’s no evidence of wrongdoing by the new administration – which has been in office for less than one month.