The prosecution urged Judge Pat Joyce to give Bustamante the maximum sentence for second-degree murder — life with the possibility of parole — and another 71 years for armed criminal action so every time she’s up for parole she can explain, “Because I robbed 71 years from Elizabeth Olten on Oct. 21, 2009.”

Bustamante’s defense painted the picture of a “severely disturbed child” who suffers from bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. The defense also pointed to a system they say failed her by not hospitalizing her before she hurt herself or someone else, calling attention to her long history of “cutting,” a fluctuating dosage of Prozac and a revolving door of therapists.

After two full days of testimony from family members, clinicians and psychiatrists, emotions ran high in the courtroom following the closing arguments. When prosecutor Mark Richardson said an excerpt from Bustamante’s journal, written days before the murder, stated ‘”I’m gonna murder someone” because of a phone issue,’ Bustamante’s grandmother, Karen Brooke, had heard enough. She sobbed, stood up and stormed from the courtroom. After Richardson finished his statements, Olten’s grandmother — Sandra Corn — said “I think Alyssa should get out of jail the day Elizabeth gets out of the grave!”

Bustamante, who has shown no emotion in the courtroom since being arrested in 2009, started crying before she was escorted back to her cell.

Judge Joyce will hand down a sentence at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Representative Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis)

Representative Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) says she has sponsored the bill for five years and this is the first time it has advanced out of a committee. She says her goal is, “To be able to not allow for employers to look at non-violent offenses as an obstacle to employment opportunities. I would also like to allow for law enforcement to continue to have access to those records.”

Under the proposal, non-violent offenders who have not committed additional crimes for five years after release can ask a judge to keep their criminal records from being accessible to potential employers.  The judge  can determine whether certain criteria have been met and then decide whether or not to grant the request.

Nasheed says right now, such individuals return to crime when they are turned away for employment because of their history. “They go out and they wreak havoc in our communities. They start selling drugs on our street corners. They start breaking into the homes and cars trying just to survive.”

She says without some way to break that cycle, the state will have to deal with such individuals at one point or another. “Either we’re going to deal with it on the front end or we’re going to deal with it on the back end. We’re going to house them in prison or we’re going to allow for them to have job opportunities after coming home from prison.

See the details of HB 1344

Nasheed is not discouraged that the bill has taken so long to advance. She notes, Illinois took seven years to pass similar language, which it is just now implementing.

The bill moves on to the House Rules Committee, and from there could advance to the House Calendar.

Judge Dan Green in his ruling states, “The court declines the plaintiff’s request to engage in a never-ending game of one-upsmanship in a constant search for the ultimate map.” The ruling also says the defendants’ reading of the phrase “as compact as may be” follows the Supreme Court’s instructin that ‘compactness’ is ‘mandatory,’ while allowing for the fact that perfection is unattainable.”

The plaintiff’s attorneys can appeal to the State Supreme Court — no word yet on whether they intend to do so.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says its important to get a final decision on the process since the filing deadline is Feb. 28.

If the court or the legislature decides to push back the deadline, we’ll push that back, but if they don’t, filing will begin on the 28th of February.

Carnahan calls the legal melee surrounding the maps — Congressional, State Senate and State House — “a mess” and says it’s unfortunate it’s come to this.

The suit is being filed on behalf of six republicans and six democrats throughout the state, former lawmaker Joan Bray of St. Louis among them.

Attorney Harvey Tettlebaum filed to intervene today on behalf of three current lawmakers, all republicans.

Tettlebaum says he represents Representatives Jay Barnes of Jefferson City, Stanley Cox of Sedalia, and Don Gosen of Chesterfield.

Judge Joyce says she’ll decide on the case by Feb. 14.

Meanwhile, in a separate case challenging the constitutionality of Missouri’s Congressional district boundaries is in the court’s hands.

Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green has been ordered by the State Supreme Court to rule on that case by the end of today … we’re still waiting for that decision to to be handed down.

Attorneys Greiman (left) and Layton listen while Greim presents closing arguements to Judge Dan Green in Cole County Circuit Court, Jefferson City.

Cole County Circuit Court heard final arguments for and against the newly drawn Congressional district boundaries. Both sides agree it comes down to semantics. The constitution requires the discricts be drawn “as compact as may be.” What “may be” requires is up to the interpretation of the courts.

Attorney Gerry Greiman says the current map is a clear case of gerrymandering. Defendant Eddie Greim says the constitution requires districts to be as compact as may be, not as compact as can be. And he says political interests are not disallowed. He points to the process by which legislators are elected by constituents to make these decisions for them, not the courts.

Circuit Court Judge Dan Green has been ordered by the State Supreme Court to hand down a ruling by today. He could say the current map is constitutionally legal, or order it back to the legislature for a second rendition.

Either way, the opposing litigants can appeal to the Supreme Court.

Greg and Missey Smith call the bill "Kelsey Smith's law," for their daughter (pictured).

The language of House Bill 1108 has been introduced three previous times in Missouri, and has been passed out of the House but never out of the Senate. It would require companies to locate, or “ping” a cell phone, when law enforcement requests that information in emergencies in which a missing person is in danger of serious physical injury or death. It also protects cell phone companies from being sued for providing that information under the guidelines of the bill.

Missey Smith has advocated for the bill each time. “It’s time that this gets changed.”

Missey and her husband, Greg Smith, are proponents of the bill commonly named for their daughter Kelsey, who was kidnapped from Overland Park, Kansas and found murdered in southern Jackson County in 2007.

Greg, now a legislator in Kansas, says if such language had been law then Kelsey might have been saved. “June 2, 2007 was the night she went missing and she was found four days later … Once that information was released by the cell phone company it only took forty-five minutes to recover her body.” A former police officer, he adds, “If you can get that kind of response in a missing person case, that’s just absolutely light years ahead of what we’re doing right now.”

Missey says the bill changes one component of current law. “They may turn this information over already. So, they’ve already got all of this in place. The Kelsey Smith Act, or this legislation, states they will. That’s the difference. It goes from ‘may’ to ‘shall.’”

No one testified against the bill in the hearing of the House Committee on Utilities.

Learn more about the effort to remember Kelsey, and pass the law named for her.

Missey says it is frustrating the bill has not become law yet, and its sponsor agrees.

This is the first year Representative Jeanie Lauer (R-Blue Springs) has carried the language. “We have history and tracking that shows that this legislation is great, it’s in other states and it is time for Missouri to step up to the plate.”

The bill is currently law in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota. It is being considered this year in Hawaii and the Smiths say it could be taken up later this year in Massachusetts and Illinois. The Smiths says they know of two cases in the states where the law has passed in which cell phone location information has led to the safe recovery of a missing person.

Missy says she will be back in Missouri as needed to push for the bill to become law this year. “Whatever it takes to get it done.”

Attorney Gerry Greiman presents his case to the court, challenging Missouri's new Congressional district map.

Green asked political science professor David Kimball if the new map gerrymandered.

Kimball said by the standard that six Republicans and two Democrats would likely hold office under the the newly drawn U.S. House districts … yes.

Donna Turk, a Lee’s Summit resident whose husband is running for Congress on the Republican ticket in that area says the district boundaries don’t need to be so convoluted. And she says there’s no way urban and rural areas can be fairly combined in representation, referring She’s to a portion of suburban Jackson County that has been added to the 6th District, which encompasses nearly all of northern Missouri, which comprises sparsely populated farming communities, not urban and suburban areas.

At issue is whether the newly drawn districts are “as compact as may be” — a constitutional requirement.

“I am a disenfranchised voter now,” Turk says, telling the court she has urban issues and works for urban companies but is now thrown into an agricultural district.

Both urban and rural voters in West Central and Northern Missouri, as well as in Jackson County say their votes are going to be ignored under the new U.S. House map.

Norma Gene Connor, Saline County resident, another plaintiff in the case admits she’s a longtime politically active Democrat in that area.

“I’m a farmer, own farmland.” Lawyer Gerry Greiman asks her to describe nature of that county and she says, “It’s mostly rural, it’s farm land, animals, hogs and cattle. We have an ethanol plant in our county.”

Connor tells the court she’s concerned that an urban Congressman based in Kansas City would not be familiar with rural issues and properly represent her interests in the U.S. House. She says the same is true for nearby Lafayette and Ray counties.

Endsley Jones, another witness brought forward by the plaintiff, is a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and resident of University City. He says the map inhibits the ability of Jefferson Co. to have an even economic development approach, particularly important for St. Charles area and other outlying areas.

Another concern brought forward to the court was that the new map mixes media markets, specifically that of Central Missouri and the St. Louis area. Gasconade County was said to be “on the fringe” that gets its news from both places.

Defending the new map include state Solicitor General James Layton and Eddie Greim, a private attorney.

On this second day of testimony, Greim pulled up maps of various districts in California, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia — asking whether they are “compact” by definition.

Thomas Hofeller, a longtime redistricting expert who typically works for GOP operatives, says Missouri is more compact than all of them, many of which were deemed appropriate by the court.

The state Supreme Court has set a Friday deadline for Judge Green to make a decision.

The Cole County Circuit Court will have to issue a ruling on this case as the state senate maps go through a second reapportionment process. The state house district maps will have their day in court Friday, also in Cole County.

Meanwhile, the State House districts will be challenged in Cole Co. Circuit Court Friday and the Supreme Court has ordered that the State Senate maps again go through the reapportionment process.

Congressional districts are redrawn every ten years based on population shifts documented by the U.S. Census. The 2010 Census numbers resulted in the loss of one Congressional seat in Missouri, so the new map draws boundaries for eight districts as opposed to the previous nine.

The current map was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the map but the legislature overrode the veto.

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:22)

Rep. Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) says his legislation comes from the Lentz case, in which a biological father took a case against a baby’s adoptive parents to the Missouri Supreme Court on the grounds that he never agreed to the adoption. Kelly says many cases such as these come forward when a biological parent or parents figure out they can financially gain from holding up the process.

“A woman’s parental rights were … her consent for adoption of the child was irrevocably filed, the court had ruled, she had consented, the adopted child had been living with the adoptive family for almost a year, then she attempted to name a punitive father, and he attempted to disrupt the adoption proceedings,” Kelly says. “Either once you have had your rights terminated, finally, or once you have not shown responsibility … it happens regularly that people try to hold the perspective adoption parents up for financial benefit by threatening to disrupt the adoption proceedings.”

Kelly’s bill says a father can establish his interest in the child, legally, by providing support to the child both before and after it is born.

Mary Beck is a law professor at the University of Missouri who specializes in adoption cases. When she was asked by a committee member about biological fathers of children who say they had no knowledge of the pregnancy prior to the adoption, she says current law already addresses that.

“That goes back to part of a stature that was passed years ago,” she told the House Committee on Children and Families. “It says that every man,who has sexual intercourse with a woman is on notice that she may become pregnant. So for him to say he didn’t know doesn’t work in Missouri, as well as about 20 other states. so he is liable to provide support for this child, prenatally, under this bill, because he is on notice.”

Beck says the legislation helps protect the rights and decisions of all parties involved, the birth mother, the biological father and the adoptive parents.

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:14)

The bills being considered are HB 1258 — ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY, HB 1259 — CONSENT FOR ADOPTION, and HB 1260 — CONSENT FOR ADOPTION.

Senate measure would reform identifying information laws

Sen. John Lamping (R-Ladue) has filed three pieces of legislation that would reform the state’s law on letting adoptees seek their identifying information.

Lamping says he’s following up on legislation filed in the 2011 legislative session. Senate Bill 713, would add clarity to SB 351, which allows adoptees to obtain information on their biological parents if they can obtain consent from the parent or prove the parent was deceased or unknown. Lamping says this would help clarify situations in which there is no death certificate to prove a biological parent is deceased and no evidence, after a reasonable investigation is conducted, to prove the parent is still alive.

Similar measures have been proposed in years past, but have not been signed into law. Such legislation has received support from various advocacy groups, birth parents, adoptees and adoptive parents, some for life-or-death medical situations. One group has staunchly opposed releasing identifying information on the basis that a parent’s right to privacy would be compromised, and that is the Catholic Church.

Other adoption reform legislation is “aimed at getting more Missouri orphans in adoptive homes by increasing the efficiency of the process,” Lamping says. “My goal is to help parents experience the miracle of adoption and children to find forever homes.”

The adoption process can currently take up to two years or more. Senate Bill 711 would help expedite the process by prohibiting the court from using the race of a child, of the biological parents or of the potential adoptive parents as a consideration when placing a child with adoptive parents.

Another bill, Senate Bill 712, would modify the Special Needs Adoption Tax Credit by prohibiting a child’s ethnic background, or membership in a minority group, from being the sole factor used to consider the child as “special needs.” Lamping says under this bill, a child will still be considered a “special needs child” if he or she has a specific factor or condition, such as age, membership in a sibling group, medical condition or handicap because of which it would be reasonable to conclude the child cannot easily be placed with adoptive parents.

Debate on the bill has consumed most of this week’s floor time in the Senate.  Business groups claim courts have gone too far in making it easier for people to file employment discrimination suits.  Sponsor Brad Lager of Savannah wants to require those filing suit to prove discrimination was the motivating factor in their firing or lack of promotion.  The current standard requires only that it be a contributing factor.

                                        AUDIO: Lager :17 mp3

He says his proposal puts Missouri discrimination laws under the standard of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its 1991 amendments.

Democrats are tying up the bill, complaining the bill makes it too hard for employees to protect themselves from discrimination and tilts the system too much toward business.  Or as Senator Maria Chappelle Nadal of University City puts it.

                                        AUDIO: Chappelle Nadal :05 mp3

Democrats say Republicans don’t want to compromise on anything…so the Democrats won’t allow a vote on the bill.

Capitol police and the Highway Patrol hope to find the person who put the gun-sight stickers on the name plaques near the doors of four women democratic senators and the senate democratic leader — Senators Jolie Justus  and Kiki Curls of Kansas City, Maria Chapelle-Nadal and Robin Wright Jones of St. Louis, and Senate Minority Leader Victor Callahan of Independence. One of them also showed up on the nameplate of Rep. John Dieckhaus of Washington, the only Republican to get one.

Chapelle-Nadall is angered.

AUDIO: Chapelle-Nadal (:10)

None of those getting the stickers knows why they got them.  A couple of the stickers were taken down only for them to be replaced by larger ones.

Senator Ryan McKenna of Crystal City became angrier the more he thought about it, especially in connections with the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona.

AUDIO: McKenna (:26)

Senate Leader Rob Mayer wants the person punished. He says the Senate family will work to find out who did it.

AUDIO: Mayer (:33)

Callahan doesn’t want to guess what was going through the person’s mind. He, like the others, has no idea what the stickers are for.

AUDIO: Callahan (:32)

Senate Administrator Jim Howerton called Capitol Police and the Highway Patrol as soon as he heard about the incidents.

Chapelle-Nadal  doesn’t know what issue has led to the incident but she knows what should happen to someone who would do something like this.

AUDIO: Chapelle-Nadal :03

Lawmakers and other state office-holders occasionally get threats by phone, letter or e-mail.  Longtime capitol observers recall nothing this blatant in the past.