A case that forced heightened security in Missouri courthouses long before September 11th is before the State Supreme Court again. The Court had dismissed the murder case against Kenneth Baumruk after a Macon County judge found him incompetent to stand trial. Baumruk sufferedhead wounds in a firefight with bailiffs after shooting his wife to death and injuring eight others in the St. Louis County Courthouse in 1992. Prosecutors revived the case in 1998, and last year gained a conviction and death sentence against Baumruk. Attorney Gary Brotherton told the Supreme Court during oral arguments the trial should never have taken place in the courthouse where the shootings took place. Brotherton has asked the court to dismiss the case again or to at least order a third trial.
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