Jury acquits shooter in McDonald County case

Joplin City Council to move forward on $130 million recovery proposal; curbside recycling election resurrected

Residents kept the house packed to the end of a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night to encourage the panel to resurrect some kind of curbside recycling proposal and to hear the details or support a $130 million recovery plan.

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September 7, 2012

Jury acquits shooter in McDonald County case

Anonymous The Joplin Globe The Joplin Globe Fri Sep 07, 2012, 03:58 PM CDT

PINEVILLE, MO. — A McDonald County jury acquitted Brian Clapper on all counts today after less than two hours of deliberation.

Clapper had been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of John Bevill Jr., 34, Bentonville, Ark., and first-degree assault for the wounding of Kendrick Long, 23, of Rogers Ark. He also faced two counts of armed criminal action.

The defense argued that Clapper, 32, Bentonville, Ark., had acted in defense of his girlfriend, Karis Cunigan, and himself when the shootings took place the night of Sept. 23, 2011.

A former girlfriend of Bevill, Cunigan was trying to retrieve her possessions from his home near Washburn.

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