BY HEATHER RATCLIFFE • hratcliffe@post-dispatch.com > 314-621-5804 | Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 12:00 am
CLAYTON • A former boyfriend was convicted Tuesday of shooting to death a young woman in front of her 4-year-old daughter as they walked behind the Kirkwood Commons shopping center in 2007.
A St. Louis County jury took about 30 minutes to find Roy A. Handley Jr., 27, guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Dana Ramey, 18, was shot in the back of the head about 4 p.m. Sept. 8 just after she left the Kirkwood Walmart store and took a pathway to Meacham Park, which is directly behind the shopping center, police said.
According to a witness, Handley was walking with Ramey, the child and another woman when he suddenly stopped, allowing the others to walk a few paces ahead, and fired one shot without warning.
Surveillance videos from the store showed Handley running back to the shopping center and throwing a revolver on top of a storage container by the Walmart. He jumped into a trash bin next to Chili's Grill & Bar, where police found him hiding. The .22-caliber revolver was recovered.
Handley, of the 4200 block of Russell Boulevard in St. Louis, had pulled a gun on Ramey and threatened to kill her days before, according to a witness.
Family members said the two had been dating only a few weeks before she broke off the relationship. Handley continued to call and visit her home.
Just before the trial began this week, Handley attempted to dismiss his defense attorney. Judge Steven Goldman refused to allow it, but he instructed defense attorney Brad Kessler to ask only questions of witnesses that his client directed. Handley offered no questions. He repeatedly objected to the proceedings throughout the trial.
Later on Tuesday, police removed Handley's mother from the courthouse after she hit a relative with her cane, officials said.
Ramey, of the 300 block of Alsobrook Street, was the former girlfriend of Kevin Johnson and the mother of his daughter. Johnson, 24, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder Kirkwood Police Sgt. William McEntee in Meacham Park on July 5, 2005.
Ramey's parents, Kinji and LaVonda Bailey, said she was a bright, giggly girl who loved music, dancing and spending time with her daughter. They cried when the judge read the verdict and sentence Tuesday.
"I think it's a fair verdict," said Kinji Bailey. "I think we got justice. But it doesn't bring Dana back."
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