Former St. Louis, Missouri police officer, Dustin Boone, and his lawyers are currently fighting against the inclusion of certain evidence for his next court date in June.
Boone was accused of violently beating an undercover, Black cop in 2017 while he was still a member of the St. Louis Police Department.
The first trial occurred in March and included Boone and two other officers. One was acquitted of all charges, while the other was partially acquitted.
Boone, unlike the others, will appear in court to resume the trial in June.
Since the focus of the trial is now on Boone, the investigation reopened, with the latest collected evidence including racist texts.
In one text message exchange, Boone wrote:
"There r [n-words] running wild all across the city and even if/when we catch them... they don't get in any trouble because there are plate lips running the CAO!"
CAO was in reference to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office, run by Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who is also Black like the undercover cop Boone previously beat.
In another text message exchange with several family members, Boone wrote:
"What city r we in?"
"These f**kin' [n-words] r the same as St. Louis [n-words]."
There were also text messages from Boone's girlfriend, suggesting his police practices were not consistent and ultimately led to people not "complying" out of confusion.
The girlfriend texted:
"D**n, you guys need to practice more. Even I was confused. One guy was saying HANDS DOWN, HANDS DOWN."
"Next dude saying HANDS UP."
"Then HANDS DOWN, HANDS DOWN, GET YOUR F**KIN' HANDS UP."
There were also ample messages about recreational drug use, including mentions of abusing Adderall.
Since these text messages and other materials came to light, Boone and his attorney, Patrick Kilgore, argued against their inclusion in Boone's next hearing.
"Boone's attorney, Patrick Kilgore, argues in a court filing that the now-public information is 'inflammatory, irrelevant, and highly prejudicial' and disclosing them violates a judge's order to file much of the information under seal."
"He notes that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote bout the texts and other information from the prosecutors' filing and claims it could taint the jury pool and keep Boone from receiving a fair trial."
Some were adamant the new evidence be included in the trial.
It makes absolute sense a defense attorney would not want these messages included.
The messages regarding inconsistent police practices and drug use are certainly concerning enough, but the repeated use of racial slurs, including against a District Attorney, is very disturbing.
Especially in light of the undercover officer Boone was charged with attacking.
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