Child-Slaying Suspect Sentenced To 105 Years For Prior Killing

Jet, Jan 17, 2000

A man accused in the slaying of an 8-year-old boy and his mother recently was sentenced to 105 years for another murder related to that case.

Russell Peeler Jr., 27, was convicted in September of murdering Rudolph Snead Jr., the fiance of 8-year-old Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr.'s mother, in May 1998.

Superior Court Judge G. Sarsfield Ford in Bridgeport, CT, said he found no redeeming qualities in Russell Peeler Jr. to spare him the maximum sentence.

"He doesn't deserve any consideration," Ford said. "He cannot be expected to be rehabilitated and be put back on the street and stay away from the criminal element ... I'd be a fool to expect that."

Peeler also was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of risk of injury to a minor stemming from a drive-by shooting in which another attempt was made on Snead's life eight months earlier.

During that attempt in which he was wounded, Snead's young son and Brown were present. Brown was expected to be a witness against Peeler in that case.

However, before the boy could testify, he and his mother, Karen Clarke, were murdered in their Bridgeport home (JET, Feb. 8, 1999).

Prosecutors allege Peeler and his brother, Adrian Peeler, killed the two to keep the boy from testifying. If convicted in those slayings, the brothers could receive the death penalty.

Outrage over the slayings of B.J. and his mother led to an overhaul of the state's witness protection laws, including requiring the chief state's attorney to safeguard witnesses and allowing the state to take custody of child witnesses if parents have failed to protect them.

Authorities said Clarke had turned down special police protection after a few days, saying it was too disruptive.