A man who has sat in the St. Louis County jail since 2023 awaiting trial for the deadly carjacking of a Bridgeton gas station worker is now facing new charges after authorities say he attacked a corrections officer inside the jail, knocking out one of the officer's teeth and loosening three more.
Michael A. Betton Jr., 37, was charged with attacking the officer after a jail guard told him not to take food before it was made available, according to charging documents cited by STLtoday.com. Police wrote that Betton struck the officer in the face in response to that instruction. Betton has been held in custody since February 2023 and was scheduled for a status hearing later this week, the outlet reported.
Betton already awaits trial on charges of beating and carjacking a convenience store employee who later died of his injuries. Authorities say he faces charges of second-degree murder and vehicle hijacking with serious physical injury in connection with that death, per the same outlet's reporting.
The Deadly Carjacking That Started It All
The victim in that earlier case was Jamshaid Khan, 47, who worked at the Phillips 66 station in Bridgeton. According to stltoday.com, Khan was injured during a carjacking on Feb. 16, 2023, and died 11 days later on Feb. 27. Authorities described the carjacking as a random attack, saying Betton brutally assaulted Khan outside the store before taking his car, the station's report notes.
Khan became a U.S. citizen in 2001, according to a homicide-tracker profile compiled by graphics.stltoday.com. His wife, Saba Baig, said through a translator that the couple married in Pakistan in 2018. Khan worked six days a week at the gas station, and Baig told the outlet she was surprised to learn he earned only about $12.50 an hour.
Police recovered Khan's missing Toyota in good shape in the area after the carjacking, per the same account. A few days after the February 2023 carjacking, Richmond Heights police picked up Betton after he allegedly walked into a New Balance store, tried to steal a pair of sneakers, and fled without paying.
A Jail Already Under Scrutiny
The alleged assault adds to a string of safety concerns raised about the St. Louis County jail in Clayton. In a separate incident, 19-year-old inmate Carnell Robinson was charged after attacking a corrections officer inside the same facility, an assault that left the officer hospitalized with serious injuries, according to Fox2Now. A county spokesperson said in that case that help arrived within a minute after the officer pressed a help button, and that another inmate intervened.
That attack prompted Missouri state Rep. Kimberly Ann Collins to call for safer staffing levels, saying, “Putting one corrections officer in a pod with 72 inmates is not safe.”
The jail has also dealt with broader unrest. A disturbance involving 34 inmates at the St. Louis County Justice Center began on Feb. 7, with inmates objecting to their allotted time outside cells, Wi-Fi access and phone privileges, Fox2Now reported. Correctional officers used pepper spray to regain control after inmates refused repeated orders to lock down and barricaded a housing-unit entrance with furniture; charges for four of the inmates involved were referred to Clayton police and the county prosecutor for review.
Under Missouri law, first-degree assault of a corrections officer applies when a person attempts to kill or knowingly causes or attempts to cause serious physical injury to a corrections officer, according to the text of Missouri Revised Statutes Section 565.081. That statutory language does not by itself establish whether Betton's alleged conduct meets those elements.
