Before Italo Wade allegedly shot and killed a man following a car crash on Goodfellow Boulevard in North St. Louis, a St. Louis County judge had first cut his bond, leading to one release from jail, then later allowed him to remove his ankle monitor just five months before the killing.
Wade, 23, is charged in St. Louis City with first-degree murder and armed criminal action and is being held without bond, according to RiverBender.com. But as FOX 2 reports, Wade was already facing 2025 felony child endangerment and harassment charges in St. Louis County at the time of the killing, with prosecutors saying he had repeatedly threatened to kill his former partner and their child. Court records reviewed by the station show Wade sent one text reading “i’m letting you know i’m killing u” and another warning, “(expletive) u and him. he gone get it too.”
A Judge’s Bond Decisions Under Scrutiny
According to the station’s reporting, a St. Louis County judge reduced Wade’s bond in August 2025 from $100,000 cash-only to 10% of $50,000, over prosecutors’ objections — meaning Wade only had to pay $5,000 to walk free, per court records. Then in March 2026, the same judge agreed to let Wade remove his GPS ankle monitor, a decision that came roughly five months before the North City killing.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Melissa Price Smith told the station that Wade “has another victim” and has “damaged another family,” adding that officials are concerned both for the victims in the county case and for the family of the man killed in the city case. “It’s devastating for everyone to hear,” Price Smith said, per the same report.
The Judge Behind the Rulings
The judge who granted those breaks is identified as Jeffrey McPherson, a St. Louis County judge. EIN Presswire reported McPherson was listed as an applicant for a county circuit judge vacancy in January 2025, according to EIN Presswire. McPherson declined to comment on the case’s specifics through a spokesperson, the station’s report notes.
McPherson's rulings have also drawn public criticism: a Change.org petition demanded his removal, accusing him of judicial leniency after he granted probation in a domestic violence case that later ended in a fatal incident, according to the Change.org petition.
How the Fatal Encounter Unfolded
The August 28 shooting began as a car crash and escalated into gunfire. Wade admitted to shooting the victim several times after the car accident, according to FOX 2. Officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s District 5 and federal ATF agents happened to be conducting an unrelated traffic stop just two blocks away when they heard the crash and gunfire, allowing them to respond instantly and detain Wade, per KSDK.
Court records reviewed by FOX 2 also indicate Wade’s 2-year-old child was with him.
