Criminal Justice
Court sets hearing for Marcellus Williams to present DNA evidence before execution date
A Missouri man scheduled to be executed in September will get a chance to present a court with DNA evidence he believes will exonerate him. Marcellus Williams will get a hearing on Aug. 21, at the request of St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to vacate the conviction […]
Despite what some politicians say, crime rates are decreasing
Violent crime in the United States dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year, according to the FBI’s Quarterly Uniform Crime Report released earlier this month. The FBI’s data, collected from nearly 12,000 law enforcement agencies representing about 77% of the country’s population, suggests violent crime dropped by […]
Missouri corrections officers charged with murder in death of inmate in restraints
Four former Missouri correctional officers face murder charges and a fifth is charged with involuntary manslaughter for the December death of a man incarcerated at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Othel Moore, 38, was pepper-sprayed in the face multiple times, had his face improperly covered by a hood that blocked his nose and mouth and […]
U.S. Supreme Court upholds law that prevents domestic abusers from owning guns
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday upheld a federal law that bars people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from owning a firearm. In an 8-1 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion that “our Nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.” “When an […]
Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting survivors await promised donations while bills pile up
Abigail Arellano keeps her son Samuel’s medical bills in a blue folder in a cabinet above the microwave. Even now, four months after the 11-year-old was shot at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade, the bills keep coming. There’s one for $1,040 for the ambulance ride to the hospital that February afternoon. Another for […]
Warden of Missouri prison replaced after investigation of inmate death
The warden of Jefferson City Correctional Center, where four corrections officers were fired earlier this year following the investigation of a December death of an inmate, has been replaced. An acting warden has taken over for Doris Falkenrath, Karen Pojmann, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said in an email to The Independent. Falkenrath […]
Republican state attorneys general oppose new gag order in Trump documents case
Twenty-four Republican state attorneys general, including Missouri’s, have interceded in the classified-documents prosecution of Donald Trump, opposing special counsel Jack Smith’s request that the trial judge bar Trump from making hostile statements against federal law enforcement. In a 27-page amicus brief filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the states complain that Smith’s motion to amend the […]
Why 1,000 homicides in St. Louis remain unsolved
In March 2018, a heartbroken mother named Donnita Stunson mailed a letter to the mayor of St. Louis asking for help. “I was born and raised in the city of St. Louis,” she wrote. “I was once proud of my city, until Dec. 22, 2017.” On that date, around 3 a.m., an unknown number of […]
Slow process of Missouri marijuana expungement drags on months after constitutional deadlines
IRONTON — Sammye White balanced carefully on a stepladder as she pulled a hefty box marked “1993” off the top shelf. White, the elected circuit clerk for Iron County in southeast Missouri, was searching for an old marijuana case. The small storage room near her office is packed with faded ledgers indexing criminal cases by […]
An angry Trump pledges to appeal ‘this scam’ conviction as Republicans vow resistance
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump, now a convicted felon, vowed to launch an appeal based “on many things” he considered unfair during his New York trial, he said Friday in the lobby of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. Meanwhile Friday, legal and political analysts predicted he will spend little if any time in jail […]
Reactions to Trump conviction fall along party lines in Missouri
Reactions by Missouri politicians to the felony conviction Thursday of former President Donald Trump fell predictably along partisan lines, with Republicans condemning the verdict and Democrats expressing satisfaction or trolling their partisan foes. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, blamed President Joe Biden for the state of New […]
Trump found guilty on 34 felony counts in NY hush money trial
WASHINGTON — Jurors in New York state court on Thursday found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star ultimately to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president wrapped up in […]