ST. LOUIS — “Our system doesn’t even value a person’s life anymore.”
“Our judicial system is a joke.”
“Unbelievable. Well, not really it is the City of St. Louis. Typical and disgusting.”
These are among the dozens of comments readers wrote after seeing 5 On Your Side’s coverage about a plea deal struck Tuesday by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore’s administration for Bradley Jenkins.
The 35-year-old walked away with two years of probation for his role in his wife’s fatal fall in a parking garage in downtown St. Louis in 2019.
Gore says he understands how the decision can seem inadequate to those who don’t know the facts and evidence of the case. That evidence, he says, does not show he pushed her.
“I'm not going to try to walk through three years of analysis and investigation, but this obviously was a very tragic case and we didn't pursue the charges that we pursued lightly,” Gore said. “It's the best charge that we could obtain based on the evidence.”
Allissa Martin’s cellphone video and audio as well as the accident reconstruction investigation by the police department were the two pieces of evidence that convinced Gore that the highest charge her husband could face following her death was a misdemeanor.
“Those were the two things that were really analyzed in detail, broken down piece by piece, looked at from every angle,” he said. “I would suggest to the public that no stone was left unturned.
“They can feel secure in that fact and the fact that the plea agreement that was reached reflects the highest charge that the evidence would support.”
It happened on June 2, 2019, just two weeks after the couple got married in Las Vegas. They were both corrections officers for the Illinois Department of Corrections and had attended a Cardinals game that night.
Witnesses told police the couple argued and were intoxicated.
Police were called to the Stadium East parking garage at about 1:45 a.m. where they found Jenkins straddling his wife’s body. He was covered in blood and appeared to be intoxicated, according to court documents.
Police said Martin’s cellphone captured the couple arguing, her voice telling him to stop hitting her and later screaming as she fell to her death.
Jenkins has never been charged with murder.
Gore’s predecessor, Kim Gardner, originally charged him with felony domestic assault, dismissed those charges, and then refiled them in 2022.
The case was supposed to go to trial next week, but Gore’s administration struck the plea deal before it could.
“Like I said, no stone was left unturned, I'm satisfied [with] that,” Gore said. “And I think the disposition that was reached reflects what the evidence and the law would support.
“I can understand this is a tragic situation and people feel strongly about it as an emotional situation, certainly. It’s an unfortunate occurrence, and so I understand the concern, but I also understand the work that was done on the investigation here and the commitment to pursuing public safety that exists within our office. So I am satisfied with where the matter ended.”
Martin’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jenkins, Interpark, which owns the parking garage, Fox Sports Midwest Live! and Whelan Security company.
In that lawsuit, the family alleges Martin “was caused to and did fall over the side of the parking garage and down to the floor below, while running away from Jenkins.”
The lawsuit further alleges the parking garage lacked appropriate security cameras, and that the security company did not protect people from assaults including Martin, who “ran up several stories of the Cardinal Stadium’s East Garage in her attempt to escape from (Jenkins).”
The garage owners also, “negligently and carelessly failed to properly secure the areas of the parking garage that led to the outside in a manner that would prevent one of its patrons from falling over and out of the opening,” according to the lawsuit.
The family is accusing Fox Sports Midwest Live! of overserving Jenkins and causing the intoxication that led to his negligent actions.
Attorneys for the family did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.
Jenkins’ attorney John Rogers declined to comment.
As part of the deal, Jenkins will have to attend a domestic violence intervention program, refrain from using drugs and alcohol and have no contact with Martin’s family.
The family’s civil case is scheduled to go to trial in October.