Judge Judy Draper

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee has recommended that voters “do not retain” St. Louis County Judge Judy Draper. Dale Doerhoff, the Coordinator of the Committee, explains how rare that recommendation is.

“We have found over the years, since 1940, that the nonpartisan (courts) plan works very well in selecting very good judges that are qualified to do their job. Over the years, since 1940, there have only been three judges that got a ‘do not retain’ recommendation, there have been hundreds that were given a ‘do retain’ recommendation,” Doerhoff said.

Draper has been a judge in the 21st Judicial Circuit since 2004. The recommendation was made based on anonymous surveys from attorneys that tried cases in front of Draper, and members of juries from her court. The committee also reviewed one of her court decisions, and observed her in court.

One of the other two judges that was been given the “do not retain” recommendation in the past did manage to keep their job when it came to a vote.

“The second judge who was recommended not retained was two years ago, it was in St. Louis County. The vote for that judge was considerably lower than all others who were retained, but that judge squeaked through and had a retain majority, which is all it takes, is a majority. So we felt like the voters at least took into consideration the evaluations,” Doerhoff said.

The other judge to get the ‘do not retain’ recommendation did lose their job, when it came to a vote in Platte County. Voters will decide in November whether Draper, and dozens of other circuit and appellate judges, get to keep their jobs.

Visit the Missouri Bar’s website for more detailed information from the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee.

Dale Doerhoff speaks at the Jefferson City press conference announcing the Committee's findings

Before 1990, attorneys simply made a ‘yes or no’ recommendation on whether the judge should be retained.

“In the 1990 general election, judges were averaging less than 60% support from voters. The voters seemed to want more information. There was concern by some very, very good judges that they were on the edge of the cliff practically of being voted out simply because the voters did not have enough information about them,” Doerhoff said.

Doerhoff says that’s when the Committee program was expanded significantly, and the numerous other factors started being taken into consideration. Even since 2008 a number of changes have been made to the process, including one suggested by the judges themselves.

“The judges wanted to see a benchmark. They wanted to know if their rating was at a certain level, would that be a presumption of ‘retain’ and below that level would it be a presumption of ‘non-retain.’ So after all the committees deliberated about this and voted, we voted to use a 2.85 rating as a benchmark. On a scale of 5, 2.85 would be kind of like a middle C grade,” Doerhoff said.

He says while the system is always under review, he’s pleased with evaluation process as it is.

“We want them evaluated on their entire record. We want evaluations based upon the hundreds and thousands of cases that are decided, and not just through one ideological filter. So that’s why we do that the way we do, this is designed to focus on merit-based factors,” Doerhoff said.

AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1 min MP3]

The Missouri Department of Corrections is making changes to the visitation system in the state, in the name of budget cuts.

The Department of Corrections saw their budget cut by $4.5 million dollars for this fiscal year and made some efficiency adjustments accordingly. Tom Clements, the Director of the Division of Adult Institutions, says the biggest difference will be in visitation hours.

“This change in our visitation schedule allows us to reduce our comp time accumulation and gives us an opportunity to utilize some of those officers in some different posts on Thursdays,” Clements said.

The Department will eliminate visitation on Thursdays, which was the least used of the four visitation days. Saturday and Sunday visitations will stay the same, and extra hours will be added on Friday.

“I can’t give you an exact dollar savings, but the dollar savings primarily is associated with a reduction in overtime costs. That’s pretty compelling because we had an over $1 million reduction in our overtime appropriation for the current fiscal year,” Clements said.

Clements says there was an effort to try to lessen the impact on the visitations themselves.

“When (inmates) get released from prison if they have a strong, prosocial support system waiting for them; that can help them make the transition successfully. It can be a factor in success or failure and therefore a factor in future crime, in future recidivism,” Clements said.

The changes go into effect today. Clements says they’ve been notifying inmates and those visiting them about the changes for a month now.

AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1 min MP3]

 It’s become an online phenomenon; a renegade goat running loose in the city of Mexico. The Mexico Goat has more than 8,000 followers on Facebook, and had eluded Mexico public works employees and police officers for days.

But the 10-day saga has come to an end, in about as fitting a way imaginable. A Mexico man says he took matters into his own hands, going after the goat on his horse and lassoing him.

Chris Newbrough of our affiliate KXEO has been covering this story from every angle. He talked to Mervin Beechy, the hero (or villain) who captured the goat:

AUDIO: Chris Newbrough reports [0:47 MP3]

The State Supreme Court has disbarred the former Chariton County Prosecutor.

The Court says Renae Ehler violated five ethics rules between 2007 and 2009, including using money she owed to clients to pay personal expenses. Ehler was asked to resign as the County’s prosecutor amid the allegations April, and she did so in early May.

Bryan Schneider, an attorney from the Rolla area, will serve the rest of her term, which goes through the end of the year.

 Court records say Ehler was previously placed on probation for two years after a six month suspension was stayed in October 2005. The Court says Ehler was punished for “violations of the rules of professional conduct that were of the same nature as her current violations,” and that some of the current violations occurred while she was still on probation.

Follow this link to see the complete court ruling.

The decision ends with the statements that “Under a progressive disciplinary scheme, Ms. Ehler’s inability to improve her legal practice, her now habitual acts of professional misconduct, and the severity of those acts warrant disbarment. To protect the public and restore integrity to the profession, Ms. Ehler is disbarred.”

The Missouri Ethics Commission is ready to institute some significant changes passed by the legislature this year.

Julie Allen, the Executive Director of the Missouri Ethics Commission, says change is not very common when it comes to state ethics and campaign finance laws.

“I’ve been at the commission for several years, and this is the first time that we’ve seen, I believe, any significant changes to the ethics laws in Missouri during that time frame,” Allen said.

The changes will do things such as preventing political action committees from contributing to other political action committees, and requiring legislators or legislative candidates to report contributions of more than $500 dollars within 48 hours. Those reports will then be available at the Commission’s website. Allen summarizes the impact of the many changes this way:

“Increasing transparency, improving accountability, and enhancing enforcement,” Allen said.

She says the enforcement aspect will be especially beneficial.

“As far as the commission, there’s (an enforcement) tool that says that if you obstruct a commission investigation or provide false information to the commission, it’s specifically defined as a Class A Misdemeanor,” Allen said.

The changes go into effect Saturday. Allen says the Commission is prepared for the changes, and has been communicating with the parties involved since the legislature passed the changes.

“I think, currently, committees and individuals are learning about Senate Bill 844’s requirements and we’re directly communicating with them. I think that will continue after August 28^th. That’s part of the commission’s job; to communicate with them and answer questions about the laws,” Allen said.

Follow this link to the Missouri Ethics Commission’s website explaining the changes in more depth, and this link to the section of that site with information about campaign finance reports.

AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1 min MP3]

Tyler Gilliam, Charleston, S.C., via Raleigh, Mike Allen, United Kingdom, and Landon Phillips, Charleston via Charlotte, are riding from the Carolinas to Los Angeles to raise money — and awareness — to fight child sex abuse.

Click image to be redirected to Pedal for Prevention's website.

The three guys, college friends, come up with an idea to help kids and raise money for advocacy groups around the nation. Pedal for Prevention brings them from Charleston, South Carolina, to Missouri’s Capitol City. From here … it’s on to L.A.

Gilliam admits it isn’t something most people want to address. But he says it’s one of the most preventable problems in society as we know it. He works for Darkness to Light, an advocacy group in Charleston, and says the kids’ stories have touched him. He says issues like AIDS, Cancer, drug and alcohol abuse are already getting lots of attention in America. But he says one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused by age 18. He says we’re the adults and it’s up to us to make it part of the conversation and address the prevention of the epidemic.

The trio hopes to make it to Cali’s Pacific Coast by the end of October, raising $40,000 dollars to pump back into communities to prevent sexual abuse against children. They’ve raised about $5,000 so far and are hoping people will track them on their blog throughout their journey. They came through Missouri this week and have posted updates about their trip to Busch Stadium and much more.

Jessica Machetta reports [Mp3, 1:15 min.]

It sounds like something out of a movie; high level executives meeting behind closed doors to fix prices on a valuable commodity. The product in this case is LCD panels; the types used in flat panel TV’s, computer monitors, and laptops. And Attorney General Chris Koster says not all the companies are obscure brands.

“Hitachi, Samsung, LG Phillips and the like. There are a number of companies that have been charged in this,” Koster said.

Koster is one of the co-chairs of the antitrust working committee with the National Association of Attorney Generals, so his office will be working closely with the other four states co-filing the suit as it makes its way through the Northern District of California. He says that’s a court that’s commonly used for these types of cases.

“It affected the prices Missouri consumers paid at electronics stores throughout our state and we’re going to go after these companies and try to collect on behalf of our citizens,” Koster said.

He says right now, he needs Missourians to start getting their documentation together if they purchased any of these products from these companies between 1999 and 2007.

“If a Missouri business or a Missouri individual believes they are a victim under the parameters of this lawsuit, then there is a form for them to fill out on the Attorney General’s website. We want to begin collecting this information, I imagine we’ll be collecting it will over the course of a year and we are seeking damages on behalf of Missouri consumers that have been wronged as a result of this antitrust allegation,” Koster said.

Koster says they have a whistle blower to help with the case, as well as a wealth of other evidence that the companies met to inflate prices on products using LCD panels.

“Some of these companies have already pled guilty to federal prosecutors and have paid as much as $890 million in criminal fines already so there is substantial evidence that this kind of price fixing action occurred,” Koster said.

The companies named in the lawsuit are:

AU Optronics Corporation; AU Optronics Corporation America; Chimei Innolux Corp.,  Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp.; Chi Mei Optoelectronics USA, Inc.,  International Display Technology USA, Inc.; Chi Mei Optoelectronics Japan Co., Ltd; HannStar Display Corporation; Hitachi, Ltd.; Hitachi Displays, Ltd.; Hitachi Electronic Devices, USA, Inc.; LG Display Co., Ltd.,  LG Phillips LCD Co., Ltd.; LG Display America, Inc.,  LG Phillips LCD America, Inc.; Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd.; Samsung Electronics America, Inc.; Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.; Sharp Corporation, and Sharp Electronics Corporation.

AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1 min MP3]

The Highway and Water Patrols continue to work together to merge the two agencies.

The new head of the Highway Patrol, Colonel Ron Replogle, says making the Highway Patrol and Water Patrol into one agency is challenging on many fronts, but that joint cooperation and ongoing communications have helped. Replogle says the Highway Patrol will effectively absorb the Water Patrol.

He says the Water Patrol currently has six districts. After the merger, the Water Patrol Division will be reduced to four.

He says the general public won’t notice a difference in enforcement, only in uniforms. He says the merger will save the state money without a reduction in services the public has come to expect.

Some members of the Water Patrol are having to deal with an identity shift, Replogle says, and are — in a way — losing the department they served for so long. He says that psychological barrier is perhaps the biggest challenge to overcome within the merger process.

A preliminary hearing in New Mexico for 44-year-old Elizabeth Denman becomes a request for a competency hearing. Denman faces 21 counts in the abduction of her son from her ex-husband’s home in Lake Ozark.

McKinley District Attorney Karl Gillson expressed displeasure over the public defender making the request at the last minute because he had spent public funds to bring Paul Denman from Missouri, and numerous out-of-county law enforcement officers, to testify at the hearing.

Gillson said the request for a competency hearing automatically goes to the district court.

“That process in my experience is exhausting, I’d say anywhere from 60 to 120 days,” Gillson said.

Denman is the mother of Devon Denman, who was kidnapped at gunpoint from his father’s home on July 10, the day before his fifth birthday. She and her new husband, Mark Cochran, allegedly abandoned Devon in the car after New Mexico State police flattened the tires of their car during a 100-mile-an-hour chase and fled on foot in the dark. Shots were fired at officers during the pursuit, and Gillson says Denman and Cochran face attempted murder charges for that action. The couple was caught a couple of days later in Arizona.

They’ll eventually be returned to Missouri to face other charges here.

KYVA news talked to Paul Denman in New Mexico after the hearing was delayed. He said he realizes all 21 charges in New Mexico may not be prosecuted.

“I just hope they get what they’ve got coming to them. It’s a little nerve wracking driving out here. A lot of charges are going to be dropped, I know, but I just hope they get what they’ve got coming and I’m just happy I’ve got my son back,” Denman said.

The reporter also asked how Devon is doing.

“Doing great, I mean he had to start counseling because he did see a lot more stuff than people thought he did see. Going through counseling and otherwise for the most part his back to his normal happy, rowdy self,” Denman said.

Cochran faces a preliminary hearing in the same court next Wednesday.

John McBreen of KYVA contributed to this report.

AUDIO: John McBreen reports [1 min MP3]

A state audit on sex offender registration compliance says it has improved, but more work needs to be done.

Auditor Susan Montee says statewide, registration non-compliance dropped from about 36 percent in 2002 to 7 percent now.

AUDIO: Montee presents sexual offender audit [Mp3, 7:49 min.]

“In addition, the General Assembly, Department of Corrections and Division of Probation and Parole, and Missouri State Highway Patrol have generally implemented the recommendations in the prior audit report,” the audit states. “The General Assembly passed various legislation since the last audit and the law enforcement agencies made various changes and other enhancements to their records and procedures to address recommendations. These actions contributed to the reduction in the rate of non-compliance with the registration requirements. As of March 31, 2010, Missouri had 10,549 actively registered sex offenders in 114 counties and one city (St. Louis) not within a county.”

Montee’s audits notes the improvements needed:

– to ensure previously exempt offenders have re-registered

– further efforts are made to achieve substantial compliance with Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requirements,

– data matches are performed to help locate non-compliant offenders,

– current notification procedures are properly performed, and

– timely evaluation and treatment services are provided.

Montee says some offenders were exempt from registering (if the crimes took place before the registry requirements were implemented), but then were required by the Supreme Court to register. The change has made it difficult to bring the state into 100 percent compliance, although work is still being done to track down all offenders.

“A June 2009 Missouri Supreme Court ruling resulted in 4,465 previously exempt sexual offenders being required to re-register on the sexual offender registry; however, 1,445 (32 percent) of these offenders had not re-registered as of March 31, 2010,” she says.

In July 2006, federal legislation was signed into law, providing a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification. All states were initially mandated to meet the new requirements by July 2009.

While the federal authorities have recognized and commended the state for the efforts made thus far, they concluded that Missouri had not yet achieved substantial compliance with the requirements.

“The prior audit reported local sexual offender registration units were not always made aware when an offender on the registration list had been incarcerated,” Montee says.

Find registered offenders in your neighborhood, view photos and prior offenses.

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports [Download / listen Mp3, 1:17 min.]