A Columbia barber charged with killing two women in 2022 has been convicted on five counts, after several hours of deliberations.
Our news partner KMIZ reports 37-year-old Cadilac Derrick has been convicted of first degree involuntary manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, domestic assault and two counts of armed criminal action. Derrick had been charged with two counts of first degree murder for the deaths, so the convictions mean he will be eligible for parole at some point. Derrick was charged with the November 2022 deaths of 22-year-old Lea’johna Sanders and 53-year-old Laura Myers.
939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse for all three days of the trial. Derrick, a Rock Bridge graduate, took the witness stand on Thursday, testifying that that Sanders, his girlfriend, had previously threatened to kill him, had stabbed him with a “sharp object” once and had tried to run him over with her vehicle.
Derrick was also grilled during cross-examination by Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins. Prosecutor Perkins told the jury in opening statements that Derrick had repeatedly threatened to kill Sanders. Defense attorney Joseph Whitener told the jury that both Sanders and Myers were intoxicated that night, and that this is not and never was a murder case. Counselor Whitener asked the jury to acquit his client; adding at best it was a voluntary or involuntary manslaughter case.
