Criminal Justice
Crime is down, FBI says, but politicians still choose statistics to fit their narratives
Violent crime and property crime in the United States dropped in 2023, continuing a downward trend following higher rates of crime during the pandemic, according to the FBI’s latest national crime report. Murders and intentional manslaughter, known as non-negligent manslaughter, fell by 11.6% from 2022. Property crime dropped by 2.4%. Overall, FBI data shows that violent […]
Amendment would use court fees to fund retirement for Missouri sheriffs, prosecutors
Missouri voters will decide Nov. 5 if retirement funds for sheriffs and prosecutors should be supported with fees collected on court cases. A fee used to fund sheriffs’ pensions was put in place by state law in 1983. The Missouri General Assembly placed Amendment 6 on the ballot to reverse a 2021 Missouri Supreme Court […]
False names used in testimony to Missouri House committee studying immigrant crime
A Columbia woman charged with using multiple aliases to accuse restaurant competitors of criminal activity also used fake names for testimony to a Missouri House committee alleging a conspiracy to obtain liquor licenses for undocumented immigrants Crystal Umfress of Columbia, owner of Casa Maria’s Mexican Cantina, was already facing trial in a Dunklin County arson-for-hire […]
Have a felony record? You still might be eligible to vote in Missouri
Until they get in touch with him, organizer TJ James says, many people with a felony conviction have no idea that they have the right to vote. And it’s not for a lack of interest, said James, an organizer with the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE2. “I’ve had people that I […]
Ryan Routh charged with attempted assassination in Trump golf course case
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that the man who allegedly stalked former President Donald Trump for a month before aiming his rifle through a fence at Trump’s private golf course on Sept. 15 was indicted on the charge of an attempted assassination of a political candidate. The Justice Department said a federal grand jury […]
Marcellus Williams executed after U.S. Supreme Court rejects final appeal
Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise […]
Missouri Supreme Court rejects death row inmate’s appeal, allowing execution Tuesday
The execution of Marcellus Williams will proceed Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a decision rejecting efforts to show a potential juror in his murder trial was excluded based on race. After hearing arguments Monday morning in an expedited appeal, the court unanimously ruled that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell had not […]
Safe storage and minimum age gun laws would curb violence, study says
The deadliest school shooting in Georgia history occurred earlier this month when a 14-year-old gunman, armed with a military-style rifle, killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, a city about an hour northeast of Atlanta. And on Sunday, former President Donald Trump was the target of […]
New federal lawsuit pins blame for inmate’s death on Missouri prison officials
Missouri corrections officers drenched an inmate with pepper spray and ignored his pleas for help for four hours, responding only when his screaming stopped as he died in the Tipton Correctional Center, a federal lawsuit filed this month alleges. The events that led to Brandon Pace’s death on April 7, 2023, began when correctional officers […]
Air conditioning is coming to some Missouri prisons. But it will take years and cost millions
Missouri lawmakers took a step toward improving conditions in some Missouri prisons last year by setting aside millions to install air conditioning in one of the state’s 17 prisons. That cooler air is still a year and a half away. That decision came as global temperatures broke summertime heat records. Prisoner rights advocates celebrated the […]
Federal appeals court declares Missouri’s ‘Second Amendment Preservation Act’ unconstitutional
A Missouri law declaring some federal gun regulations “invalid” is unconstitutional because it violates the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, a federal appeals court in St. Louis unanimously ruled on Monday. A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a district court ruling from last year that blocked Missouri from enforcing the […]
Missourians average 1 year in jail waiting for court-ordered mental health treatment
The number of people languishing in Missouri jails in need of court-ordered mental health treatment currently stands at 344 — and the wait time for a hospital bed averages one year. That’s up from 254 people this time last year, according to Missouri Department of Mental Health data provided to The Independent. A spokeswoman for the […]