Former Cole County prosecutor explains manslaughter charge

A former Cole County prosecutor is explaining why Boone County prosecutors charged a Jefferson City man Monday with involuntary manslaughter in a 2017 shooting death in the Columbia Mall parking lot.

According to the probable cause statement, Scott R. Randolph told police he was putting his gun in a holster when it fired. The bullet struck Jeffrey Swope in the eye while inside a vehicle in the lot late on the eve of Black Friday, Nov. 23, 2017, according to the documents.

Documents said police found the gun strapped into its holster in the passenger floorboard of the vehicle Randolph and Swope had been in, but police found no signs of damage to the holster.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab was unable to fire the gun in three similar holsters without damaging them, the statement said.

“I don’t know how that could have happened,” said Target Masters general manager Joe Gilbert.

Gilbert said he has spent years creating and manufacturing his own gun holsters. He said though there are different types of holsters, they all would have had some sort of damage if a gun was fired while holstered.

“Even something that was metal, designed to contain it, would be damaged,” he said. “There would be evidence that a gun discharged.”

According to former Cole County prosecuting attorney Bill Tackett, prosecutors often “charge down” in a case. This means attorneys go for a charge that would be easier to prove than a higher charge.

According to the probable cause statement, Randolph was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

“In this case they chose to file manslaughter, which is a reckless standard,” Tackett said.

This means in order to prove the charge, prosecutors have to prove Randolph was acting recklessly.

“They could always raise that to murder second, which is knowingly causing the death of,” Tackett said.

Tackett said if there is enough evidence, murder could be proven. But this would require proving Randolph knowingly murdered Swope.