For Immediate Release

Aug. 23, 2018

A 66-year-old Kansas City man has been charged in the murder last Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, of Morris Clay, who witnesses saw stagger off the front porch of a residence in the 3300 block of Wabash after he was wounded by gunfire, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

Marshall Celestine, dob: 10/23/1951, faces Murder 2nd Degree, Armed Criminal Action and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.*

According to court records filed today, a witness told police that she heard shots and saw the victim leave the residence, staggering and falling to the ground. The defendant was seen shooting the victim again before going back into the house. Other witnesses said they didn't see the shooting, but they saw the vicitm and suspect there, heard shots and saw the defendant leave in a green Honda. One witness identified the defendant, and computer checks of the license plate on the green Honda confirmed the vehicle was registered to the defendant. Overland Park, Kan., police officers located the vehicle in the 7700 block of Frontage Road on Monday. The driver was holding a black revolver. He initially refused to exit the vehicle. But he was eventually arrested for Felon In Possession of a Firearm. The revolver contained three spent and three live rounds. The Crime Laboratory advised that the revolver matched a spent bullet recovered at the morgue from the victim's body. Celestine is a convicted felon in connection with a 1975 robbery in Kansas.

Prosecutors requested a bond of $200,000 cash.

For more information, contact:

Michael Mansur

Director of Communication

Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office

Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor

Work   : (816) 881-3812

Mobile: (816) 674-3954

mmansur@jacksongov.org

http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com

*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded.