LIBERTY, Mo. — A recent Supreme Court decision may lead to the exclusion of evidence in the trial of Shon Pernice, after lawyers for the man accused of murdering his wife filed a motion to exclude any evidence gained through the use of a GPS tracking device.
Pernice is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Renee Pernice, who disappeared from the couple’s Northland home in January of 2009. Her body has yet to be found.
In a pre-trial hearing on Friday, attorney’s for Pernice argued that a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which determined that evidence gathered from GPS tracking devices without a warrant is inadmissible in court, should render any evidence gathered by police against Pernice void.
In court, a police officer explained how a GPS tracking device was used to keep an electronic eye on Pernice in the days following his wife’s disappearance, saying that he was given the order to have the GPS device attached by a superior – the belief being that Pernice could lead investigators to Renee Pernice’s body.
The officer also testified that multiple police officers were also assigned to physically tail Pernice.
Also on Friday, community activist and blogger Alonzo Washington appeared in the court. Before he was charged with his wife’s murder, Pernice called Washington to discuss his wife’s disappearance.
“The thing that was very eerie about that phone call, he said I want to call you back and tell you something that I didn’t get a chance to tell you,” Washington told members of the media Friday morning.
Blogger Answers Attorney Questions in Pernice Case
Washington says he never heard back, but he wants to at least to get answers.
“There are parents of this missing woman that are suffering. There are children,” Washington said.
“If there is something that you can do to bring answers in this case, I would encourage you to do so,” Washington pleaded with Pernice.
That phone call lead Washington to be questioned by police, and Friday morning by Pernice’s defense team.
“We need to do our job and to do our job, we need to ask people questions and people aren’t always willing to answer our questions without a subpoena,” said Pernice’s defense attory Eric Vernon.
The hearing will continue Wednesday, February 15th at the Clay County Courthouse. The criminal trial will begin February 27th.
