Recorded Jail Conversation Shows Reason Murder Victim Was Shot

A recorded jailhouse conversation was part of the evidence that would have been used against a man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last week.

Ron Rico Patton, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action last week.

Patton pleaded guilty to the charges in a deal with St. Charles County prosecutors, who recommended a 24-year sentence in return. Patton would be eligible for parole in 20 years.

Police had recorded part of a three-way conversation between Patton, his co-defendant Harvion L. Cameron, of St. Louis, and Cameron’s girlfriend, who was talking to Patton on a cell phone. Cameron was in custody in St. Louis County jail at the time.

Harvey asked why Patton, also known as “Tweety,” shot the man. The girlfriend relayed the question to Patton, and repeated his answer back to Cameron: “I thought he had a gun.”

Patton later told police he panicked during the robbery and shot Brennan at 1300 Trails of Sunbrook in St. Charles.

A third co-defendant, Jeffery D. Lottie of Lake Saint Louis, told police Patton was in the vehicle with Brennan and shot him during the robbery attempt.

Lottie, 24, of the 300 block of Oakborough Drive in St. Charles County near Lake Saint Louis, was found guilty of the murder in September and received a life sentence.

Cameron, 23, 5000 block of Arlington Avenue in St. Louis, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the same incident and received a 30-year prison sentence. The other two men took part in the crime, a drug deal in which the three planned to rob the victim, police said.

For more crime information on Wentzville Patch, see the following articles:

• Trigger Man Sentenced in Drug Deal-Turned-Murder of Wentzville Man
• Man Kicks His Father in the Chest; Dad Has Pacemaker
• Man Sentenced in Christmas Eve Shooting Near Wentzville