Ex-Cop Dustin Boone's Racist Texts Are Fair Game, Judge Rules
Bad news for ex-St. Louis cop Dustin Boone: Federal prosecutors will be able to use his racist texts against him in an upcoming trial.
Boone, who is accused of beating a Black undercover officer he mistook for a protester in 2017, was trying to keep the texts hidden from jurors, arguing they had nothing to do with the case and would unfairly make him look bad. But U.S. District Judge Richard Webber swatted away most of the arguments made by Boone's attorney, Patrick Kilgore, in a ruling handed down on Wednesday.
This means prosecutors can show Boone's March 2017 text to fellow St. Louis police Officer Timothy Strain, a two-word slur: "Fuckin n-s." And they'll be able to include the string of texts he wrote to fellow officers and friends about forcing someone who took a "TASER to the fuckin dome" to repeatedly say "I'm a pussy" while crying.
Prosecutors will also be able to admit text messages and a log of Facetime calls that the feds say show Boone livestreamed the beating of undercover Detective Luther Hall in September 2017 to his then-girlfriend.
Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2021/05/28/ex-cop-dustin-boones-racist-texts-are-fair-game-judge-rules