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Summary of Offense:
In 1990, Kimber Edwards and Kimberly Cantrell divorced. Cantrell received primary physical custody of their *******, Erica, and Edwards was ordered to pay baby support. In 1995, his baby support obligation was raised to $351 per month. In March 2000, Edwards was charged with failing to pay any of his baby support obligation for one year. He pleaded not guilty, and his case was set for a court appearance on August 25, 2000. Erica stayed with her *******, his wife and their two children for three weeks prior to August 22, 2000, at their St. Louis city home.
When Erica did not hear from her mom by August 23, and Cantrell did not arrive to pick Erica up, Erica called her aunt. The aunt went to Cantrell's home and found her dead, shot twice in the head at close range. Cantrell's 12-year-old neighbor told police he heard shots and a woman's scream early in the evening of August 22, and his older brother had seen a black man with a black backpack banging on Cantrell's door that afternoon.
Ortell Wilson, a tenant in one of Edwards' rental properties who matched the boy's description ultimately was arrested for and convicted of murdering Cantrell. Wilson implicated Edwards in the *******, and Edwards was arrested August 27, 2000. Edwards waived his Miranda rights and told police he had hired someone named "Michael" to ******* Cantrell for $1,600 and that Edwards had helped in the *******.The jury found Edwards guilty of first-degree *******, found the existence of one statutory aggravating circumstance and recommended the death penalty. The court sentenced Edwards to death, and he appeals.