Maries County’s Prosecuting Attorney, Anthony “Tony” Skouby, recently persuaded a Phelps County jury to find a persistent drug trafficker guilty. Skouby called Darius Brown, 29, St. Robert, a “menace to society.”

The jury trial was held in Phelps County on a change of venue from Maries County with Circuit Judge William Hickle presiding. The jury found Brown guilty of one class B felony of second degree trafficking drugs, and two class D felonies of possession of controlled substance. Judge Hickle sentenced Brown to 15 years in the DOC on the trafficking charge and on the possession of controlled substances charges, the judge sentenced Brown to five years in the DOC to run consecutive to the trafficking charge, and five years in the DOC to run concurrently to the other two prison sentences. These charges are from an arrest of Brown in November 2020. 

The Maries County Sheriff’s Office reported Brown’s attorney, James Thomas, argued Brown was not given enough time to consider a plea deal before the trial and had never been offered an opportunity for a drug treatment program.

Prosecutor Skouby argued Brown is “a menace to society” and was arrested for drug trafficking just days after posting bond in Maries County on the same charges. He said Brown has a history of drug charges, including trafficking charges and also the possession of a firearm. Skouby said Brown “Is dangerous, doesn’t care about the welfare of anyone but himself, and went out and was arrested for the same exact charge he was just bonded out of jail on days earlier.” Skouby said Brown does not need to be on the streets of our community. He asked for the maximum sentence of 15 years for trafficking and seven years for each of the possession charges, with at least one of them running consecutively to the 15-year sentence. 

Judge Hickle agreed with Skouby, but lowered the sentences of the drug possession counts to five years instead of seven. However, he did grant Skouby his request for one of the possession charges to run consecutively with the 15 year-sentence.

Judge Hickle said he agreed with Prosecutor Tony Skouby about Brown being a danger to the community. After sentencing him, the judge told Brown that he is a young man and hopes he will make some changes in his life before being released. He wished him good luck.

Brown continues to have pending charges from two other incidents in Maries County. One involves an assault in the Maries County Jail where he has been charged with class E felony  of third degree assault. The second incident came from a traffic stop where Brown was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, resisting arrest of a felony, fail to yield to an emergency vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia, represented a drivers license of another person, false impersonation to law enforcement, displayed motor vehicle plates of another person, fail to maintain financial responsibility (no insurance), and operate a motor vehicle on the roadway without a valid license. 

Brown also has pending drug and firearm charges from Cooper County and Miller County.

The sheriff’s office complimented Skouby on the Brown drug conviction, saying he has proven he is willing to dismiss or reduce charges if the person struggling with an addiction is willing to pursue help with their problem and become a productive member of society. Skouby’s firmness extends to pursuing prison sentences for those who mean to harm other people, those who steal, those who harm first responders, and those who distribute the poison of illicit drugs in Maries County. He works hard, the sheriff said.

“I commend our deputies for the work they did investigating this individual on the traffic stops which lead to these arrests and especially Prosecutor Tony Skouby, and his office assistants, for the work they put into prosecuting this case,” Sheriff Chris Heitman said. “One less drug trafficker for us to worry about being on our streets for a few years!”