A judge reduced from $1 million to $150,000 the bond for a woman accused of firing into a crowd of teenagers outside her house in Spanish Lake on Feb. 26, killing 15-year-old Jocquees Billups.
St. Louis County Associate Circuit Judge Gloria Clark Reno said this afternoon that Alma King, 51, of the 1100 block of Prigge Avenue, could use a combination of cash and property equity to make the bond. King has been in jail since the melee, and shooting and is charged with second-degree murder, assault and armed criminal action
Defense attorneys Andrew Hale and Scott Rosenblum said they expect King to be free soon because members of her church plan to help her raise the money. Some relatives and supporters of the victims’ families attended the brief session. They opposed bail, prosecutor Doug Sidel told Reno. He argued that King has a propensity for violence based on the circumstances of the case.
Besides fatally shooting Billups, King and her son, 16, also wounded a 16-year-old when they shot into a crowd of teens who had gathered outside their house and had pelted their house with rocks and rolled-up newspapers while taunting the young King to come out and fight another teen, police said.
Young King is in custody in Juvenile Court pending a hearing next month to certify him to stand trial as an adult.