MAN FACES PRISON TIME IN GOOD HOPE STREET MELEE

NEW MADRID -- A Cape Girardeau man faces up to 10 years in prison after a New Madrid County jury found him guilty of interfering with another man's arrest.

In the first jury trial stemming from the June 11 melee on Good Hope Street in Cape Girardeau, Dmitri M. Bell, 19, faced two felony counts: Assault of a law enforcement officer and interfering with an arrest.

Bell was in court Friday for his part in the incident, when rocks, bricks and concrete blocks were thrown by an estimated crowd of 150 who were reacting to police attempts to arrest Greg and Kenneth Campbell. Bell was accused of throwing rocks at police.

Both Campbells brothers have been charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest. Those trials are scheduled for early next year.

Trials for other men involved in the incident will take place next month.

The one-day trial was held in New Madrid county on a change of venue.

Because Bell was tried as a prior and persistent offender, the jury's only charge was to decide the issue of guilt. Sentencing will be left to Circuit Judge Fred Copeland, said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

The jury, made up of eight men and four women, deliberated for about an hour before returning the split verdict.

Swingle said he was pleased with the verdict. "Since he (Bell) was tried as a prior and persistent offender, that means one dangerous person has been taken off the streets of Cape Girardeau," Swingle said.

Five Cape Girardeau police officers testified as well as an officer from Southeast Missouri State University's department of public safety.

The judge ordered a presentence investigation, and Bell's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 14.