Attorneys make final arguments; jury begins deliberations in Bonner trial

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Assistant Attorney General Corie Geary told a jury of six men and six women that Tiara Bonner was “looking for a fight” in the early-morning hours of Oct. 9, 2022.

“Nobody is going to f**k with my family!” Geary shouted at the jury, repeating a statement she said Bonner made that night, during her closing statement on Friday afternoon during the final day of a five-day trial in St. Charles County Circuit Court.

Public Defender Austin Smith inferred Kaelin Rickey, not Tiara Bonner, was looking for a fight that night. He replayed the video during which Kaelin said and her sisters Shannon and Karli helped attempt to cover up the crime.

“They all saw what their little sister did,” Smith said during his closing statement. “The reason we’re here today with Tiara is to distract attention away from what Kaelin Rickey did.”

The jury listened to closing statements for little more than an hour before the case against Bonner was handed to them at 2:12 p.m. for deliberations.

Bonner, 29, has been charged with first-degree assault and second-degree murder for her alleged involvement in the Oct. 9, 2022, bar fight that resulted in the death of Wilson, 49, of Hannibal. Bonner faces 10 to 30 years or a life sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections if found guilty on either charge, both Class A felonies.

After Geary reviewed most of the testimony and reviewed some jury instructions during her first opening statement, Smith immediately went on the attack, telling the jury that the three Rickey girls “only care about themselves.” 

He reminded them of the video taken by the body camera of Allison Hamm, a Hannibal Police Department officer. Shannon was heard screaming at Kaelin one moment to “sit down and shut the f**k up,” then tearfully sob moments later as she sat on the sidewalk and in Officer Dalton Benn’s car about what she said she saw — and why she didn’t want to lose her children because of her involvement.

“Shannon goes through quite sudden, dramatic arcs of emotion,” Smith told the jury. “One minute she’s in command, and the next minute, she’s on a bench crying. … I propose that Shannon Rickey’s emotions were false.

Smith said Shannon Rickey “took command” of the situation outside of Rumor Has It Bar and Grill, and in reviewing videos from that night, she was “everywhere all the time.”

“Shannon Rickey is hovering over every aspect of the investigation that night,” he said.

Smith said the fight that started on the sidewalk and eventually spilled on to Main Street that night escalated because of Kaelin Rickey’s vape pen. He said she blew vape smoke into Wilson’s face, and Jason Anderson later grabbed the pen and blew more smoke into Wilson’s face.

“But not a single witness, other than a Rickey, saw Tiara stomp Dusty on his head,” Smith said.

He asked jurors to remember the testimony of Gabe Worthington, a family friend of Wilson’s who tried to de-escalate the fight. He asked jurors to remember the testimony of Stephanie Jameson, who despite her poor vision saw Wilson get kicked in the face by someone who she thought was the smallest individual in the crowd surrounding Wilson.

“Trust Gabe. Trust Stephanie. Don’t trust the Rickeys,” Smith said. 

Smith said Bonner was being tried for Wilson’s death “because of a lie.”

“The (Rickey) family circled the wagons,” he said. “They all communicated with each other and destroyed evidence. We’re not sure what they said to each other, but they tried to conceal what she did. They almost got away with it.

“I think there’s enough doubt when you think about that group of people. How do we take with a grain of salt anything that the Rickeys say at this point?”

After asking the jury to find Bonner not guilty, Smith pointed to the door the jurors would walk out of from the courtroom.

“It’s an ordinary door right now,” he said. “But when you have your final instruction and you’re given this case, that ordinary door is going to turn into something special. That door is going to turn into a portal of justice.”

The shock value of repeating Bonner’s statement quickly changed the atmosphere in the courtroom when Geary gave her final argument.

She asked the jurors to look at the jury directions, which noted that for Bonner to be found guilty, she could have acted alone or with other people in committing the crime.

“Miss Bonner has done enough on her own,” Geary said. “We can eliminate Jason Anderson, we can eliminate Thomas Payne and we can eliminate Caitlyn Ricky. (Bonner) did enough.”

Geary then tried to dismiss the idea that the Rickey girls hatched a plan to maintain Kaelin’s innocence.

“Mr. Smith wants you to believe that these Rickey girls are these evil geniuses of Hannibal,” she said. “You guys saw Kaelin. She’s slow. She’s a simple person. You think she really concocted (a plan) and she’s this huge mastermind? That she was able to come up with this huge scheme within minutes of Dustin Wilson lying on the ground unconscious?”

Geary passionately referred to Smith’s comment about Shannon Rickey’s emotions being false. She replayed the video from Benn’s body camera.

“Does that sound like a woman who’s eager to help the prosecution?” she said. “Does that sound like a woman who is just super excited and stoked to send Miss Bonner, who is her friend and her children’s friend, to prison? No, she’s emotional. She’s telling the truth.”

Geary said this case has “torn Hannibal apart” for two years. She said didn’t feel badly for Kaelin, but she did for Shannon and Karli.

“They’ve been put into the middle of this, but their stories have been consistent since two minutes after Miss Bonner beats this man to death,” Geary said.

She admitted Kaelin lied in every interview conducted during the first 72 hours of the investigation.

“But in every single (interview), she has implicated Tiara Bonner. Every one,” Geary said. “That has never changed. The only part that has changed has been her portion of what she did that night.”