CLAYTON, Ga. -- Todd Shepard went looking to murder a police officer on Halloween night 2008, found Sgt. Michael King sitting in his squad car off the Delmar Loop -- and, to this day, doesn't regret shooting him in the head.
King's family believes that Missouri has a death penalty for people like that. But a St. Louis County Circuit Court jury on Saturday morning disagreed, recommending a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, who prosecuted the case, said one juror had held out on a death sentence.
"It only takes one person to control the entire outcome," he said.
Susan King, the slain sergeant's wife, said her family "didn't feel that it was an appropriate punishment for the crime."
"We felt it was cut and dry," she said. "So that's why we were so surprised by the decision."
The jury on Thursday convicted Shepard, 43, of Berkeley, of first-degree murder after he admitted on the witness stand that he killed King, 50, a lifelong resident of University City and 25-year member of its Police Department.
Deliberations in the penalty phase came to a deadlock on Friday night. But after Circuit Judge David Lee Vincent III told them to hash it out, they were ready to return a verdict in the morning.
McCulloch said he learned that one juror disagreed that aggravating factors in the murder case outweighed mitigating factors. A death sentence requires a jury to be unanimous on that issue, he said.
The holdout juror was not identified. Members of the jury were excused through the back of the courtroom and left the courthouse unseen by reporters. An alternate juror, contacted at home, declined to speak with a reporter.
Several members of King's family shook their heads as the foreman read the verdict Saturday -- life in prison without parole.
Shepard's sister, Sara Henderson -- who had testified that her brother was "the best brother" -- raised her arms and sobbed, "Thank you, Lord."
Shepard taunted McCulloch with vulgar names in the courtroom throughout the trial. As bailiffs led him out of the courtroom, he lobbed one more at the veteran prosecutor: "punk-ass fag." McCulloch retorted, "Get out."
Vincent set the official sentencing for 9 a.m. April 13.
McCulloch spent about 20 minutes after the verdict speaking in private with several King family members.
The case had special meaning for him, he said later, because his own father, Paul, was slain on duty.
McCulloch also wanted to be a cop. But he lost his right leg to cancer when he was a senior in high school. So he decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.
Afterward, he told reporters that he and the King family were bitterly disappointed.
"Todd Shepard deserved to be executed for what he did," McCulloch said.
He said King's family was "pleased (Shepard) is not getting out and never be able to kill anyone again -- at least on the streets -- but they are very disappointed with the ultimate outcome."
The reading of the verdict was delayed for nearly two hours because one of Shepard's attorneys, public defender Robert Steele, was late for court.
About 11 a.m., Judge Vincent told Shepard that his lawyer had 10 minutes to appear or he would miss the verdict. Steele arrived moments after. Shepard glared as his attorney joined him at his side.
Asked for a reaction to the verdict, Steele said, "Justice was served."
Henderson said, "I thank my heavenly father for sparing my brother's life." Shepard's older sister, Madeline Woods, said, simply, "Thank you, Lord."
NO REMORSE
Shepard shot King five times on Halloween night 2008 as King sat in his patrol car on Leland Avenue off Delmar Boulevard. Shepard said he went on a "reconnaissance mission" to look for police, as he had done dozens of times before.
He took the life of an officer nearing the end of his career, who, in fact, had enough age and experience to retire with a full pension, said Susan King.
"But the economy had gotten bad and he couldn't find something else to do right away," she said. "As much as he loved police work, he was interested in not working those crazy shifts and spending more time with me. He didn't get that opportunity."
After the shooting, another officer saw the license number of Shepard's fleeing car. A Missouri Highway Patrol trooper caught him four days later in a routine traffic stop near Kansas City.
Shepard was seen on video from the trooper's dashboard camera, sitting in the patrol car and trying to look at what was written about him on its computer screen.
He testified that he was looking for the word homicide -- and praying that King had died.
In letters from jail, Shepard wrote that he knew the state would be seeking capital punishment.
"These honkies know the death penalty don't mean (expletive) to me," he wrote. "I'll spit in the judge's face and dare him to kill me."
Shepard brought up race several times during his testimony before the jury. The 12-member jury was composed of 10 whites, an Asian woman and a woman who appeared to be African-American. The four alternates were two whites and two blacks.
Throughout the trial, Shepard described his actions in haunting detail and insisted that he wasn't sorry.
McCulloch said Saturday: "He tries to pass himself off as a philosopher, but he's just a killer, a cold-blooded killer and a coward at that."
After the verdict, Susan King returned to her University City home and hosted lunch for her husband's friends and loved ones. Asked what she would say to the man who killed her husband of 23 years, she fell silent.
"I'm not going to live with hatred or anything like that," she said. "I'm going to move on."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
