Death penalty still on the table for man accused in Jefferson City murder case
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Jefferson City man accused of stabbing the mother of his child to death had a motion hearing on Thursday that determined he could still face the possibility of being sentenced to death.
Sergio L. Sayles, 36, was charged in April 2023 with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, evidence tampering and a pair of misdemeanors -- second-degree stalking and second-degree harassment -- in the death of Jasmine King. Later that month Cole County’s top prosecutor filed an intent to seek the death penalty.
Sayles' defense team responded by filing a motion to declare the Missouri death penalty unconstitutional. Former prosecutor Bill Tackett says about 20 years ago courts a shift occurred that forced courts to consider the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment after studies began to emerge saying an abnormal number of people of color were receiving the death penalty.
"It wasn't that there were more people of color being put to death because there were more crimes. They were similar crimes and they were getting the death penalty and the people that were white were not," Tackett said. "That turned a lot of even prosecuting attorneys and got a lot of people's attention on the death penalty. So it became a matter of equity."
On Thursday, Sayles's defense argued before a judge that the death penalty has racial and gender biases. They cited multiple studies, including one that said Black people who kill white people are four times more likely to be tried for capital murder than white people who kill Black people.
The prosecution countered on Thursday by saying the state is held by the burden of law, not the burden of statistics. Judge Brouck Jacobs denied the motion from the defense, saying that the law is already “well settled” and that he won’t declare it unconstitutional.
The defense also motioned to strike the first aggregator listed in the notice of intent, which said that Sayles had a prior record of convictions for serious assaults after he was found guilty of aggravated battery in Champaign County, Illinois in 1999. The defense argued that they couldn’t use his criminal history as a minor as the reason for a reason of him being “dangerous.” That motion was sustained.
According to the probable cause statement, police found the woman, Jasmine King, dead from stab wounds to her head, face, neck, torso and back in her home on April 10 in the 300 block of West Ashley Street after King's family called police for a wellness check. Sayles gave inconsistent stories about where he was Monday afternoon and he denied killing King, according to the statement.
Sayles and King have a toddler child together.
Witness statements and surveillance video connected Sayles to the crime scene, the statement says. Police also recovered the murder weapon and some of Sayles' belongings in a trash bag at McClung Park, where surveillance cameras captured Sayles sitting in his vehicle around the time of King's death, according to the statement.
Sayles was previously charged with first-degree harassment in 2021 and first-degree stalking in 2022.
Sayles will have a status hearing at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Cole County Circuit Court.
