ST. LOUIS — Javonn Nettles pleaded guilty to the January 2021 Central West End double homicide this week. Circuit Attorney Office's Chief of Homicide Mary Pat Carl prosecuted Nettles' case.
Former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's administration had to refile first-degree murder charges twice, saying it wasn't ready to proceed.
This week, new Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore offered Nettles a 10-year plea deal for second-degree murder. Missouri's law requires defendants to serve at least 85% of a sentence, which means, with credit for time served, Nettles could be eligible for parole in 6 1/2 years.
"I recognize their grief. I recognize this is an unimaginable situation for a family to find themselves in," Gore said as he directly addressed victims' families on Tuesday.
Suketha Rankin, a mother and grandmother of Nettles' victims, said she disagreed.
She has continued to grieve the loss of her son, Darrion Rankin-Fleming, and her granddaughter D'myah Fleming. She remembers her son as being somebody who was kind with a giving heart. Rankin's granddaughter had aspirations to be a baker or a musician.
The father and daughter were killed in a parked car on Laclede Avenue in St. Louis' Central West End neighborhood. Rankin said the pain of losing Darrion and D'myah has been unbearable. She said justice is more than a 10-year sentence for their murderer.
"You just letting murders go, that's why people kill every single day all day, but let somebody deal drugs and they get 10-20 years. You can kill a 7-year-old and just go? It was a joke. The justice system is a joke," Rankin said.
Gore said the outcome of the case was the "best" his office could obtain.
"While we don't believe that the outcome of a 10-year sentence is perfect, it's certainly not perfect justice," Gore said. "In this particular case, looking at the evidence and the risk at trial, our conclusion was that this result represented the best outcome we could obtain."
Rankin said the fight for justice is not over.
"I will fight for them. That's my job. Like I told them, if your job is to fight for them, they're not here! That's your job," Rankin said.
Rankin said they will continue to seek justice by pushing for the second suspect in the case to get a stronger sentence.
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