Mo. Man Gets Two Life Terms For Murder, Robbery Of Insurance Agent

Oct. 30--ST. CHARLES COUNTY -- A St. Louis man was sentenced Monday to two life terms for his role in the 2007 robbery and murder of a St. Charles insurance agent, despite claiming that he was forced to participate and didn't know that anyone had been killed until later.

In a two-hour hearing packed with emotion, Cleo S. Hines, 33, testified that he had been forced at gunpoint to drive his roommate, Paul C. White, to the office of insurance agent Robert Eidman. He said he had no idea that White had gone in and murdered Eidman until he saw TV coverage of the crime.

Eidman, 48, was shot three times with a 9 mm pistol, the final bullet fired point blank into his eye. A postal carrier found Eidman's body while making a delivery to his {span}Brooke Auto Insurance {/span}office at 2295 First Capitol Drive.

The case went unsolved for more than three years until DNA found on the inside of Eidman's rear pocket -- where he kept his wallet -- matched White's DNA and broke the case.

Hines entered an Alford plea to the murder and robbery charges. Under that arrangement, he did not admit guilt but conceded the prosecution had enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Hines testified that on the morning of the crime, White put a gun to his head and forced him to drive first to Walmart and then to Eidman's office. He waited in the car while White went in, and afterward he went to sleep.

He said he had no idea what happened until he saw news coverage of the murder and confronted White, several days after the crime. After that, he was too afraid to go to police, he said.

"I didn't tell anybody what happened," he said. "That's the only thing I did wrong."

During heated cross-examination by Assistant Prosecutor Philip Groenweghe, one of Hines' supporters stood up and yelled at Groenweghe before bailiffs removed him from the courtroom.

Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham also cautioned a female supporter of Hines about making hand movements and facial expressions at Hines. He told her to stop or he'd have her removed.

Eidman's widow, Diane, broke down in tears several times while reading her victim impact statement. She told the judge that because Hines kept quiet about what he knew, she had come under suspicion for the murder of her husband.

She said she became fearful that one of two things would happen: either her husband's killers would come to murder her or the police would come to falsely arrest her.

"After five years it doesn't get any better, it just gets different," she said. "I feel hollow and empty inside."

Hines also made a tearful statement to the court, apologizing to both the Eidmans and his family.

"I can't change anything," he said. "I'm sorry for not coming forward."

Hines' sentences will run concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole.

White, Hines' accomplice, also got two life terms.

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