A total of five people are now charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Skylar Powell last month in St. Joseph.
Tuesday the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office charged two additional people in connection with the May 18th death. Kyle Smith, 25 is charged with a felony of possession of a controlled substance (5-15 year sentence range) and a felony for tampering with physical evidence (1-4 year sentence range). Ashten Surritte, 19 is charged with a felony for first-degree attempted robbery (5-15 year sentence range.) Bond for both has been set at $20,000.
According to court documents, the day before Powell was found dead in the 2200 block of Calhoun, Surritte is accused of conspiring to commit robbery by helping Powell plan a robbery of Dayne Matthews by supplying Skylar Powell with Matthews’s phone number and a picture of Matthews.
As we previously reported, Matthews was charged Monday in connection with Powell’s death. Matthews, 19 of St. Joseph was charged with felonies for possession of a controlled substance (5-15 years sentence range) and tampering with physical evidence (1-4 years sentence range).
Court documents said Kyle Smith is accused of giving 1/4 pound of marijuana to Justin Smith with the intent and purpose of resale and distribution. Court documents also said after the shooting Kyle Smith is accused of taking the handgun used and disposing of it for the purpose of preventing discovery by law enforcement officials. This allegedly took place in the area of 3513 S. 11th St.
Justin Smith, 20 was charged Monday with felonies for voluntary manslaughter (5-15 years sentence range) and armed criminal action (Minimum of three year sentence range).
A fifth defendant has also been charged in the investigation. A 16-year-old was charged in juvenile court last week with a class A felony for murder in the second-degree. Because it’s a juvenile case, the court said it is unable to release the teen’s name or picture. That teen is slated for a hearing for June 22.
Kyle Smith and Surritte appeared Tuesday morning in Buchanan County court for an arraignment. Both are scheduled for a preliminary hearing June 20 at 11 a.m. Justin Smith and Matthews each have a Preliminary for June 27.