Missouri

Inmate was executed while a SCOTUS stay request was pending, lawyers say

Lawyers for death-row-inmate Herbert Smulls say their client was executed while another stay request was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The time of death for inmate Herbert Smulls, executed by the state of Missouri on Wednesday, was 10:20 p.m., the Associated Press reports. The Supreme Court’s stay denial was…

Jan 31, 2014 1:18 PM CST

Inmate is executed amid ‘cowardly shroud of secrecy’ surrounding drug source, editorial says

Missouri inmate Herbert Smulls was executed Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution amid questions about the execution drug and its source. Smulls was executed for the murder of a jewelry store owner during a 1991 robbery, report NBC News and the Associated Press. Smulls’…

Jan 30, 2014 12:59 PM CST

Lawyer says he will drop suit alleging website unfairly cast him as a ‘tree mutilator’

A Missouri lawyer says he plans to drop a lawsuit that claims a website and commenters unfairly cast him as a “tree mutilator.” Columbia, Mo., personal injury lawyer Aaron Smith says he will drop the suit so his law firm can devote full attention to its existing caseload, the Columbia…

Jan 27, 2014 11:40 AM CST

Ex-clerk known as ‘Judge Whitney’ takes plea in case over unauthorized access to court records

A former deputy court clerk has taken a plea in a criminal case over her claimed unauthorized access to Missouri court and law enforcement database records. Whitney Tyler, 28, pleaded guilty to some of the misdemeanor charges and no contest to others, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. If she successfully…

Jan 22, 2014 12:25 AM CST

City attorney slain by husband in apparent murder-suicide, authorities say

An attorney was found dead at her home in northeast Missouri on Sunday after she was shot seven times in an apparent murder-suicide by her husband, authorities said. Kristen “Kadie” Campbell Johnson, 33, was the city attorney for Unionville and also had a private practice with offices in Kirksville, Milan…

Jan 9, 2014 4:54 PM CST

Pub owner’s sarcastic response to Starbucks cease-and-desist letter goes viral

A cease-and-desist letter sent to a small-town Missouri pub by Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn over a claimed violation of the Starbucks Coffee Co.’s “frappuccino” brand name has gone viral, after the owner, without help from a lawyer, drafted a sarcastic response and sent a $6 check. It says the…

Dec 31, 2013 6:55 PM CST

Ill-timed tweets by prosecutor don’t merit reversal, appeals court says

A prosecutor’s tweets during the trial of an accused child rapist may have been ill-timed, but there is no evidence jurors were aware of them and no need to overturn the conviction, a Missouri appeals court has ruled. The court ruled in the case of David Polk, who was charged…

Dec 19, 2013 3:37 PM CST

Missing lawyer is suspended, after probe finds 58 cases in disarray

A Missouri lawyer has been temporarily suspended by the state’s top court, after an investigation by the office of chief disciplinary counsel found he had apparently abandoned his practice. St. Louis County police have been looking for Jeffrey Witt since his ex-wife filed a missing person report on Nov. 22,…

Dec 3, 2013 4:50 PM CST

Serial killer who may have slain 22 people compares himself to Jesus, hopes for execution stay

Joseph Paul Franklin says he thinks differently now, after 30 years in prison, than he did when he killed “approximately” 22 people in an effort to start a race war. He says he’s repented, no longer holds racist views and doesn’t expect to see any hell fires burning after he’s…

Nov 18, 2013 9:24 PM CST

Retired lawyer, 102, sells coin collection for $23M

A 102-year-old retired St. Louis lawyer who collected coins since he was a young man apparently made a good investment of his time and money. The 1,800-piece collection put together by Eric P. Newman since the 1930s for about $7,500 sold at auction in New York City for $23 million,…

Nov 18, 2013 7:15 PM CST

Man imprisoned as teen won’t be retried in controversial murder case, says AG

A 29-year-old man who spent a decade in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit was freed Tuesday night after the Missouri attorney general said Ryan Ferguson would not be retried. The announcement by AG Chris Koster followed a decision last week by a state appeals court throwing…

Nov 13, 2013 5:05 PM CST

Larry Flynt joins with ACLU to fight execution of serial killer who shot and paralyzed him

Hustler publisher Larry Flynt has spent decades in a wheelchair since being shot on March 6, 1978 as he stood on the steps of a Georgia courthouse in which he was facing an obscenity prosecution. His admitted assailant, Joseph Paul Franklin, 63, has been convicted of racially motivated murders in…

Nov 12, 2013 3:00 PM CST

Video of cohort ‘confession’ and TV coverage credited in reversal of murder conviction

A man serving a 40-year prison sentence for the murder of a newspaper sports editor he says he did not commit has had his conviction reversed by a Missouri appellate court Granting writ of habeas corpus to Ryan Ferguson, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District found that the prosecution…

Nov 5, 2013 8:15 PM CST

Jailed based on mistaken identity, some who did nothing wrong are held days, weeks or months

At least 100 people have been wrongfully jailed in St. Louis over the past seven years, sometimes for lengthy periods, based on mistaken identities. Yet, through the use of technology, such as fingerprinting, it should have been relatively easy to verify the claims of those wrongfully incarcerated that they were…

Oct 29, 2013 7:05 PM CDT

Breastfeeding mom faces contempt of court for bringing her baby to jury duty

Updated: A breastfeeding Missouri woman facing a contempt of court case for bringing her baby to court for jury selection has been granted a reprieve. At a Thursday hearing, Jackson County Presiding Judge Marco A. Roldan told Laura Trickle of Lee’s Summit that he would take the matter under advisement.…

Oct 21, 2013 12:17 PM CDT