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Thursday, August 28, 2008

PTSD on Trial: Vietnam vet convicted of murder, claimed self defense

Veterans advocate convicted of murder claims he was defending himself
Darron Perkins sentenced to 40 years
BY CAROLYN P. SMITH
News-Democrat


EAST ST. LOUIS ----

A former East St. Louis Veterans Advocate Center-director who must spend 40 years in prison for a 2004 shooting at a resale shop that left one man dead and two others wounded contends he was only defending himself.

Darron Perkins, 62, formerly of 606 Alhambra Court in East St. Louis, was convicted in June of armed violence and aggravated battery with a firearm. A mistrial was declared on a charge of first-degree murder.

"All I did was defend myself after being brutally shot," Perkins told St. Clair County Circuit Judge Jan Fiss during the sentencing hearing Wednesday. "I've never been a violent person in my life. This is a travesty of justice. I was defending myself."

On Dec. 19, 2004, Perkins was playing cards for money at Dancy's Resale Shop on Piggott Avenue when he got into an argument with some other players. He ended up killing Keith Williams, 53, of Fairview Heights, and wounding Michael Foster and Halbert "Squirrel" Alexander.
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http://www.bnd.com/news/crime/story/451501.html

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