ST. LOUIS (AP) - Prosecutors dropped and then refiled charges alleging that a veteran St. Louis Democratic fundraiser fired a handgun and shouted racial slurs at people at two businesses in 2017.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Matthew Lieberman's trial on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action had been set for Monday. But the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office dismissed the case Friday against Lieberman, who is white, and then refiled charges Monday.
His lawyer, Travis Noble, said Monday that prosecutors cited problems with witnesses and "dismissed the case with the option to refile it." A spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner didn't explain the dismissal but said prosecutors were "considering different or additional charges."
Lieberman was originally charged with a weapons count that included a hate crime enhancement.