Grieving mother says controversial St. Louis prosecutor silently made plea deal with suspect in son's murder

The mother of a young man allegedly beaten to death near a St. Louis transit station slammed District Attorney Kimberly Gardner after she essentially accidentally found out the prosecutor's office had forged an 8-year plea deal with the suspect without her knowledge.

"I was told several months ago – in fact, more than told – I was assured by the prosecuting attorney at the time that he felt an eight-year plea deal is absolutely absurd," she said. "So I said the only part that I would like to participate in happens to be the victim’s impact statement. I went four months without hearing any word." However, Washington-Cobb told host Martha MacCallum that after waiting so long for an update from her home in Texas, she decided to call to get a status update so she could arrange a flight and other logistics during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. "[U]pon that call, which I considered to be just a routine call, I was then instructed by a prosecuting attorney who had taken over the case that [the original sentencing agreement] was not the case at all – that they had accepted a plea deal," she said.