A former Dent County sheriff's deputy and state correctional officer convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in a child custody dispute has been sentenced to death.
Marvin Rice still faces charges of leading authorities on a chase that ended in a shootout in Jefferson City.
Judge Kelly Parker on Friday sentenced Rice to death after a jury in St. Charles County found Rice guilty of first-degree murder in the 2011 death of 32-year-old Annette Durham following a trial in August. He also was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Steven Strotkamp and was sentenced to life in prison for that killing.
The jury couldn't decide if Rice should be put to death, leaving it to the judge.
The case had been moved on a change-of-venue order.
Rice was a police officer in Houston, Missouri, before working as a road officer for the Dent County Sheriff's Department from 2004 until he was fired in 2009. He then he took a job with the Missouri Department of Corrections and was a correctional officer at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking at the time of the shooting.
During the murder trial, Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley said Rice and Durham had an affair while he was a Dent County sheriff's deputy. Durham, who struggled with drug addiction, was jailed several times and had a son who was born in 2010 while she was in prison. Rice and his wife took care of the child, but no formal agreement was in place, Curley said during the trial.
When Durham got out of prison in 2011, she decided to establish a relationship with her son, Curley said.
Rice initially allowed her only brief supervised visits with the boy. On Dec. 10, 2011, she was allowed an unsupervised visit and decided she wanted to keep her son overnight, Curley said.
That prompted Rice to go to the home outside Salem, where Durham and Strotkamp lived. He shot the couple with a .40-caliber pistol, took his son and gave the boy to his wife before fleeing the area.
Curley said Strotkamp identified Rice as his killer before he died. Durham's daughter testified she saw Rice with a pistol before he left with the boy.
Public defender Charles Hoskins told jurors Rice "snapped" when Durham told him, "You're never seeing (your son) again, and neither is your family." He argued Rice was under "extreme emotional distress" at the time and a pituitary tumor and the 17 medications he was taking affected his impulse control and made him paranoid. He also argued Rice didn't have "cool reflection" necessary to convict him of first-degree murder.
Rice still faces charges for assault of a law officer, armed criminal action and resisting arrest for actions during his capture at Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City. That case was moved on a change of venue from Cole County to Callaway County.
After fleeing the Salem area, court documents show, authorities tracked him with his Department of Corrections cellphone and found Rice was going north on U.S. 63 in Maries County.
He eventually got into a chase with authorities that started in Osage County.
As Rice was chased into Jefferson City, officer Curtis Bohanan II positioned his patrol car as the second pursuit vehicle. As the pursuit continued into the city, spike strips were deployed and Rice's vehicle hit the strips. Eventually, he was forced to pull over, and he entered the hotel parking lot.
Bohanan followed him into the hotel lobby, where Rice fired toward Bohanan, who returned fire.
Inside the hotel, Jefferson City Medical Group was hosting a Christmas party for about 570 doctors, nurses, employees and their spouses.
Christopher Suchanek of the Cole County Sheriff's Department was providing security for the party when he heard the disturbance. Suchanek drew his gun and moved toward the gunfire.
Unable to see the gunman initially, Suchanek jumped a wall in the hotel's indoor courtyard, maneuvering until he spotted Rice, who was raising his weapon to fire again.
Suchanek shot Rice, causing him to drop his weapon and fall to the floor.
Bohanan and Suchanek handcuffed Rice, who had been struck by rounds from both officers' weapons.
For their actions, Bohanan and Suchaneck were awarded the Missouri Medal of Valor by then Gov. Jay Nixon in October 2012.