State v. Downs

ROBERT R. WELBORN, Commissioner.

Appeal from judgment and sentence to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment (without possibility of parole for first 50 years of each sentence), entered upon jury verdict finding Jerome Downs guilty on three counts of capital murder. §§ 565.-001, 565.008.1, RSMo 1978.

Oscar Green, Sr., and his wife, Shirley Ruth, owned and operated a store at 6508 Pasadena in Pine Lawn, St. Louis County. The Greens and their four children lived in a residence above the store. On January 27, 1978, at around 1:00 P.M., Oscar Green, Jr., a son, and his sister, Arlene,…