ST. LOUIS — Moments after Kyle Stone’s attorney called him “an extreme example of the failure of the mental health system,” Stone asked a judge if he could defend himself against accusations that he shot a man he did not know in front of the victim’s wife and child in their own backyard.
Stone and his public defender, Johnny Lee Peddicord, along with Assistant St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jonathan Phipps appeared before Judge Rex Burlison Wednesday. Stone, 20, has been held at the City Justice Center without a bond since Friday. He's charged with murder in the shooting death of Christopher Brennan, 47, in the backyard of his Shaw neighborhood home.
“Can I defend myself, because they were lying about a lot of stuff,” Stone told Burlison.
Burlison ordered that Stone continue to be held without bond after Stone pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges.
He's accused of killing Brennan in what Brennan’s family spokesperson, Javad Khazaeli, called “an unprovoked attack.”
Khazaeli gave a victim’s impact statement to Burlison during Wednesday’s hearing, in which one of Brennan’s brothers and sister-in-law attended. Khazaeli said the victim’s wife was too grief-stricken to attend.
“The perpetrator didn’t know him,” Khazaeli said. “He randomly found him and shot and killed him in front of his wife and just feet away from their child, who is less than 3 years old.”
Khazaeli said Stone was a known problem in the Shaw neighborhood, saying a coffee shop and wine shop had surveillance footage and images of him robbing and assaulting a man for his laptop and committing other crimes while donning the same distinctive black hooded sweatshirt with the brand name Puma written across it in big, bold letters.
Khazaeli told the judge he watched a surveillance video of Stone walking away from the shooting "calmly."
“It is very clear he was on a two-month reign of terror in that neighborhood,” Khazaeli told the judge. “Do not return him to his home.
"The victim’s wife and child have not returned to their home. They don’t feel safe returning to their home. The community doesn’t feel safe. They have seen his escalation. This was a totally preventable crime but for his decision to kill a husband, a father, a brother and a loved member of the community.”
Peddicord was appointed to serve as Stone’s public defender. His original attorney recused himself Monday because he said he knew the victim.
Peddicord said Stone was trying to get his GED and had completed the 11th grade. He said he was living along the 5000 block of Tholozan with his parents and had no criminal history other than traffic crimes. He said Stone was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18.
“He is extremely mentally ill, no one could look at this case and say otherwise,” Peddicord said.
Stone’s attorney also argued all of the security problems at the city’s downtown jail mean it is not a safe place to house Stone.
“Due to the well documented substandard conditions at the CJC, I believe that facility is a danger to him,” Peddicord said.
The prosecutor noted the public defender offered no other place to house Stone.
“We’re here to talk about whether this man is a danger and the answer is, ‘Yes,’” Phipps said. “His mental health history adds to the tragedy but it doesn’t lessen the danger.”
Burlison said there were no modifications to a bond that he could think of that would ensure the safety of the community.
Those held without a bond are given another chance to ask for a bond within seven days. Stone is expected to return then.
The Brennan family provided the following statement:
The Brennan family is thankful that Judge Burlison denied bond today. This has provided a small measure of relief as the family continues to grieve. As we all process his senseless death to more gun violence, we hope everyone can embrace Chris’s greatest quality and open your hearts and homes to your neighbors and friends.