EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A southwestern Illinois man freed when prosecutors dropped a murder charge due to questions about a detective’s credibility is back behind bars.
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A southwestern Illinois man freed when prosecutors dropped a murder charge due to questions about a detective’s credibility is back behind bars. Twenty-year-old Joshua Custer is jailed on charges of domestic battery and unlawfully possessing a firearm. Police in East St. Louis arrested Custer on Friday after he allegedly punched and bit his girlfriend and was found heading back to her home with a loaded gun. St. Clair County prosecutors in January threw out a first-degree murder charge against Custer in a 2007 shooting after a judge suppressed statements Custer made to police Detective Ricky Perry. Perry apparently failed to tape all of his interrogations of Custer in the case. Perry hasn’t publicly commented. ______ Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
