St. Louis Man Found Guilty of Carjacking, Gun Charges

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri, who was caught on camera carjacking a truck in 2020, was found guilty by a jury Wednesday of all of the charges he faced.

Jurors in U.S. District Court in St. Louis found James Blakemore, 36, guilty of three felonies: carjacking, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Evidence and testimony at the trial this week showed that on Sept. 16, 2020, the victim was napping in his work truck at the Convention Center MetroLink Station in downtown St. Louis when someone opened his door and demanded his cash and phone at gunpoint. The robber also stole the victim’s company’s 2016 Dodge Ram.

The truck was equipped with a GPS tracking device and “in-car cameras,” and both the victim’s boss and the company’s owner were able to provide police with its location. When police arrived, a man jumped out and ran away, but left a backpack behind with a pistol and both a debit card and EBT card in Blakemore’s name. 

Blakemore’s picture was captured by the in-car camera video recording and his DNA was found in the truck and on the gun. The victim also identified Blakemore as the carjacker. 

At Blakemore’s sentencing in March, he faces up to 15 years in prison on the carjacking charge, up to 10 years in prison on the felon in possession charge and seven years to life in prison on the brandishing charge, consecutive to all other counts.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Torrie Schneider and Donald Boyce are prosecuting the case.