A Missouri man killed a retired university professor during a high-speed chase. Now, he will never walk free again.
A Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Dean Dankelson sentenced Kenton Cowgill, 38, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the vehicular death of former chairman of the psychology department at Missouri Southern State University Robert McDermid. After a two-day trial, Cowgill was found guilty and convicted of second-degree murder, driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest, and drug trafficking.
On July 3, 2021, the Joplin Police Department responded to a parked car on Rex Avenue, where an officer found the defendant sleeping inside the vehicle. Soon, Cowgill sped off, which immediately led to a high-speed chase. At the intersection of Seventh Street and Duquesne Road, the defendant ran a red light that ended in a three-car crash, ultimately killing the 66-year-old McDermid. After the crash, the police found more than 80 grams of methamphetamine under the Lexus the defendant was driving.
During the trial, prosecutors submitted insurmountable police video footage and blood evidence for the jury in connection with the fatal incident.
Cowgill apologized to the victim’s family, and his lawyer, Austin Knobloc, asked the court to grant his client leniency for a chance at being paroled in the future and not sentencing him consecutively for all other convictions.
However, prosecutors and McDermid’s family told the judge Cowgill was not deserving of such leniency, especially after they had agreed to grant the defendant a pretrial plea bargain, which he refused to accept.
“In his defense throughout this case, he has blamed everyone but himself,” said Prosecutor Theresa Kenney during the sentencing hearing, according to The Joplin Globe.
Dankelson ordered Cowgill to serve additional 22 years in prison for the other charges.
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