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Missouri prison system reaches potential record of 800 correctional officer vacancies

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The Missouri Department of Corrections is struggling with a possible record shortage of about 800 prison guards. Corrections Director Anne Precythe tells Missourinet the number of vacancies has doubled during the past year among the state’s 21 prisons. She points to a variety of things contributing to the shortfall.

Missouri Department of Corrections Director Anne Precythe

“Across the nation, Corrections is hurting, because when the economy is good, and it is and we’re thankful for that, Corrections business suffers because the pay is not where it is in the general public. I believe that if you go back and trend the economy, you will see a very similar parallel line to vacancies within the department,” Precythe says.

The primary complaints from Corrections employees are low wages and lack of higher wages for seniority members. For example, a 15-year veteran officer earns the same wages as a brand new officer.

Missouri ranks 49th among U.S. states in corrections officer hourly wages and 50th in average annual salary for state workers. The state Legislature and governor endorsed a raise this year for state workers. Corrections officers are to receive a pay bump of $1,050 – the largest in nine years. Other Corrections staff are to get a $700 raise in January.

The agency is discussing options with the Governor’s Office to further increase worker pay. Precythe says she hopes to go to the Legislature next year with ideas to boost what her employees take home.

Crossroads Correctional Center and Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron and Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green have the most severe worker shortages.

“In the town of Cameron itself, we wouldn’t be able to employ all the employees we need. So, we have people driving over an hour to come to work there. Plus, you have six facilities in the northwestern part of the state. That in and of itself is challenging,” she says. “There are some areas that are in desperate times, but then there are facilities that aren’t. We’ve reduced the prison population in those three facilities and closed a housing unit or two in each of those facilities, which means we’re busing that population to other prisons to fill them up completely.”

This also presents a problem for families who have to drive further to visit their loved ones behind bars.

Precythe says Ozark Correctional Center in Fordland, South Central Correctional Center in Licking and Chillicothe Correctional Center are staffed well. Leadership is studying these institutions to understand why they don’t have high turnover rates like several of the other ones.

“We want to replicate that in other locations, whatever we find to be the case is working – we want to be able to replicate that,” she says.

Precythe says the department has also released a lot of staff.

“Staff has resigned under investigation. They have resigned before being fired,” she says. “People leave state government for an assortment of reasons. It’s not always just to go to another job. Though we hate to see the really good employees go for another job, there are several employees that we turn loose and we would not take back. That’s for the betterment of our agency.”

Precythe, who took over at the helm in 2017, inherited an agency-wide scandal involving a culture of harassment, violence and intimidation. A 2016 investigation by the Pitch.com uncovered more than $10 million paid out by the state in five years to settle lawsuits against the department.

Staff shortages have led to mandatory overtime enforced on many occasions. Employees get paid time-and-a-half for working overtime. Precythe says she’s trying to figure out how they can keep the excess annual leave they’ve earned.

“We have people who are not able to take vacation time. At the end of the year when the excess of 240 hours or 330 hours rolls off, they’re going to lose that excess annual leave because they’ve worked so much comp time. They can’t even take the comp time they’ve earned. They can’t take the vacation time,” she says.

Precythe says the training process has changed by having instructors more local to the institution, instead of waiting for the next academy. The training is still the same, but it’s done by a different set of instructors and on a faster time frame.

“Because we are so understaffed, 60% of Corrections employees throughout the entire department are less than five years on the job. We are in the business of training new people,” she says.

The agency has ramped up its hiring initiatives to help recruit new employees. Some of the efforts include attending jobs fairs around the state including the State Fair, targeted text message ads to cell phones, billboards in specific areas and working with Missouri’s military offices to hire soldiers and veterans.

One full-time recruiter and one part-time recruiter have come on board in northwestern Missouri. The agency is also looking to add full-time recruiters for northeast, southeast and central Missouri.

A high school apprenticeship program is in the works with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Precythe compares it to a Reserve Officer Training Corp, or ROTC program, for high schoolers to educate students about Corrections as a potential career path. She says the effort is not unique to Missouri and Corrections is often a family business with members following in each other’s footsteps.

Precythe says her mission has not changed since the day she hit the streets of Missouri – focusing on the workers.

“Two-thirds of our strategic plan is focused on state employees. One-third of it is focused on the outcomes and the offender population we are responsible for,” she says. “If I can get my employees in a good place, then there’s no doubt we can make a positive impact on the offender population we are responsible for. I believe we’ve been doing that. I’ve got to start with my staff and get them in a really good place first.”

About 31,000 offenders live in Missouri’s prisons.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

St. Louis area Democratic officeholders slam Missouri AG’s appeal of voter ID law decision

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Some Missouri Democratic officeholders held a press conference Monday in which they sharply criticized Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley’s court filing to block a judge’s decision striking portions of Missouri’s voter ID law.  St. Louis-based U.S. Congressman William Lacy Clay joined State Senator Minority Leader Gina Walsh of Bellefontaine Neighbors, and Senator-elect Brian Williams of Ferguson at the gathering in St. Louis.

Congressman Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis)

Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan’s decision issued last Wednesday does away with the requirement for those who don’t present a photo ID at the polls to sign an affidavit.  Representative Lacy Clay told Missourinet that the ruling returns the law to its original form where voters could show a utility bill, bank statement or anything that’s verifies their address and cast a regular ballot.

He said the Republican-led state legislature failed to consider how low voter turnout is when it passed legislation aimed at making the practice more difficult.  “In presidential elections, only 50 percent of the American people show up to vote, said Lacy Clay.  “So, this is just a canard.  This is just a way to suppress people from voting.”  The eight-term Congressman thinks the law the state legislature passed was intended to prevent voter impersonation which he contends never happens, given the existing low turnout.

Attorney General Hawley quickly filed an appeal and emergency stay petition with the Missouri Supreme Court on behalf of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.  Ashcroft based much of his 2016 election campaign on implementing the voter ID law passed earlier that year by lawmakers.  Last Thursday, the Supreme Court requested that the prevailing party in the circuit court case, Priorities USA, submit suggestions in opposition to the motion for the stay by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In his decision striking the requirement for those without photo ID to sign the affidavit, Judge Callahan said the document, on its face, is contradictory and misleading.

The affidavit says the voter acknowledges that he or she doesn’t possess a photo ID and states that he or she is required to present approved photo ID in order to vote.  It also specifies that the person signing the document does so under penalty of perjury.

Callahan called the affidavit an “outright misstatement of law.”  He said the requirement for a voter to sign the document is a violation of a citizen’s right to vote that’s guaranteed under the Missouri Constitution.

Congressman Clay said the 2016 legislation by Missouri lawmakers is part of a concerted effort across the nation by the GOP to keep certain types of residents from voting.  “I see this as an overall attempt nationally to suppress the vote, to impede or block those voters who the Republican Party knows will probably not vote for them,” Clay said.

University of Wisconsin Political Scientist Kenneth Mayer offered expert testimony for the plaintiff, Priorities USA, in the court case.  Mayer said extensive research in the numerous states that have enacted voter ID laws since 2006 shows the statutes suppress turnout and disproportionally impact poor people, minorities and the elderly. “Vulnerable populations are less likely to possess the most common forms of ID and are in less of a position to completely understand and be able to comply with what amount to complicated administrative requirements,” Mayer said.

Congressman Clay views Attorney General Hawley’s court filing is a misuse of public funds in an 11th-hour effort to suppress voter turnout.  “Josh Hawley is choosing to use your tax dollars to file this ridiculous appeal in a last-minute effort to disenfranchise thousands of Missouri voters,” Clay said.

Hawley is also locked in a tight race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Claire McCaskill.

His office representing his position as Attorney General didn’t directly respond to Congressman Lacy Clay’s comments, but his spokesperson, Mary Compton defended his Supreme Court filing.  She said the lower court’s decision will harm the integrity of the November election while referencing a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2016 which enabled the law approved by the legislature to be implemented.

“We respectfully disagree with the Circuit Court’s decision and we are deeply concerned that issuing an injunction this close to an election will cause confusion and disruption in the orderly administration of election procedures,” said Compton.  “We have promptly sought a stay of the ruling and requested clarification from the Missouri Supreme Court to preserve the integrity of the upcoming election. We will continue vigorously defend the commonsense voter ID law that 63% of Missourians approved in 2016.”

In addition to doing away with the affidavit, Circuit Court Judge Callahan’s ruling places other restrictions on the Secretary of State’s office.  It also forbids the state from advertising or distributing information that photo ID’s are required to vote.  It further bars publicizing materials that tell voters they’ll be asked to show photo ID without stipulating the other forms of ID that can be used.

Missouri Supreme Court looking at invalid probation imposed by lower courts

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The Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City is considering cases in which lower courts mistakenly imposed additional probation terms on defendants.

Gary Sampson of southern Missouri’s Phelps County had no attorney to consult with when he was given an invalid third term of probation.  Supreme Court Judge Brent Powell found the predicament troubling during arguments Wednesday.  “No one told the trial court that it screwed up,” said Powell.  “And if that’s the case, that’s why I’m troubled.”

Missouri law limits probation to two terms.  The high court is considering whether Sampson should be released from probation and whether another defendant, Trevor Griffith, should be released from prison because of lower court probation errors.

Griffith was convicted of felony drug dealing while Sampson was found guilty of a less severe felony, possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana.

Both defendants were given suspended prison sentences and placed on probation.  Both went through 120-day Institutional Substance Use Disorders Programs after violating their probation conditions.  Sampson admitted to smoking marijuana while Griffith’s was sent to prison at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking for teaching others in the substance program how to beat drug tests and for smoking K2 (synthetic marijuana).

In its Supreme Court argument, the state noted that Griffith did not object beforehand to having a third probation term imposed on him.  During Wednesday’s high court hearing, Griffith’s attorney, Public Defender Jedd Schneider, said the fact that Griffith didn’t complain about the errant third term doesn’t empower the court to enforce it.

“Even if he was consenting to probation to a third term, that doesn’t automatically grant the trial court inherent power to place him on that term,” said Schneider.  “There’s nothing in the statute to say that it could.”

After being incarcerated in November 2014, Griffith’s attorneys filed a legal action, known as a habeas petition, against the warden of the prison in Licking, with the purpose of having him freed from custody.

The petition was filed in March 2017, more than two years after his incarceration.  The state is arguing that there’s a one-year statute of limitations for such action, claiming a one-year window for offenders to sue any employee of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

In addition, the state is arguing that Griffith’s prison sentence was properly executed during his second term of probation, not the invalid third term.  In court documents, the state put forth that the current litigation is not a third term of probation court case.

The state, while acknowledging the circuit court does not have the authority to order a third term, maintains Griffith was sent to prison during his second term.  Griffith was first convicted in 2010 and given his second five-year term of probation February 3, 2012.

Patrick Logan with the Missouri Attorney General’s office noted during Wednesday’s hearing that Griffith’s second term would have ended on February 3, 2017, meaning the date he was incarcerated in November 2014 was well within the window of the second term.

Schneider, the public defender representing Griffith, argued Tuesday that the court lost its authority to take any action when it when it revoked his second term of probation.  That action took place in February 2013 when the court gave Griffith another suspended prison sentence and placed him on his third probation term.

Schneider claimed the lower court forfeited its control over the defendant when it revoked the second probation.  “I believe that once the second probation term is revoked, it is not only terminated but it’s annulled, canceled,” said Schneider.  “It’s as if it never existed.”

In the case of Gary Sampson, the defendant pleaded guilty to marijuana possession charges in November 2012.  Like Griffith, Sampson was erroneously given a third term of probation after violating conditions of his probation twice.  His second five-year probation term began in November 2013.

Over time, Sampson: admitted to using methamphetamine and marijuana in November 2014, committed other probation violations by failing to keep up with various fees totaling almost $6,500, lost employment due to a lack of transportation, admitted to smoking marijuana in March 2017 and was charged with stealing for the fourth time in ten years in April 2017.

Complicating Sampson’s predicament were numerous court appearances without an attorney.  His Public Defender attorney Wednesday before the Supreme Court, Katherine Schmidt, argued that he should have been discharged from probation in 2017 after accumulating 20 months of earned compliance credits.

The Board of Probation and Parole awards earned compliance credits (ECCs) to offenders who remain in compliance with the terms of their probation.

Schmidt claimed the 20 months of credit Sampson needed to be released from the second term of probation were wrongly applied to his invalid third term.  She argued for Sampson to be discharged from probation because if the EECs were applied to the second term, his probation would’ve expired at the end of July 2017.

The state contends because of various probation violations and placement in treatment programs, Sampson’s EECs before 2015 were properly rescinded.  Logan with the Missouri Attorney General’s office, who also represented the state in the Supreme Court proceedings for Sampson, asked the court to send the case to a hearing to determine if the original five-year prison sentence should be imposed.

The high bench will deliberate both the Sampson and Griffith probation cases and could hand down decisions at any time.

Backers and critics of “Clean Missouri” view Amendment One differently

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Supporters of a November ballot measure they call “Clean Missouri” say it would increase transparency and accountability, while opponents say it would mean more regulation.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield (standing at right), who represents intervenor Clean Missouri Incorporated, addresses Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green on August 31, 2018 in Jefferson City(file photo from Mark Wilson/News Tribune)

You’ll be voting next month on Amendment One, which has five main components. The most controversial provision would require a state demographer to draw state legislative maps.

Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan tells Missourinet that Amendment One should be defeated.

“This really should be called ‘Fleece Missouri’ because they’re (supporters) trying to confuse the voters with five or so different categories on the same measure,” Mehan says.

Amendment One would also ban gifts worth more than five dollars from lobbyists to lawmakers and would lower the current campaign contribution limits for state legislative candidates.

Former State Sen. Bob Johnson, R-Lee’s Summit, who also served in the Missouri House, supports Amendment One, particularly the requirement of a state demographer.

“I think they (districts) should be compact, contiguous and competitive,” says Johnson. “No longer do we want to see a group of voters on one side, three blocks separating for a mile or so and pick up another group of voters. No, we want them squares and rectangles and that kind of thing.”

Amendment One backers say a citizen commission would review the legislative maps drawn by the state demographer.

Opponents include the Missouri Farm Bureau, which says Amendment One “would mandate extensive gerrymandering” in an attempt to balance each district with an equal number of Democratic and Republican voters.

In September, the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City reversed Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green’s decision to remove Amendment One from the November ballot.

Judge Green issued a 13-page ruling in early September that the measure violates the Missouri Constitution’s “single subject” requirement.

The Appeals Court reversed that on September 21.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield, who represented intervenor Clean Missouri Incorporated, argued the measure doesn’t violate the single subject clause because every provision mentions and involves the Legislature.

Mehan and Johnson spoke to Missourinet separately after a recent court hearing at the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City.

While supporters of Amendment One say it would take power back from special interests, critics say it would ensure that political parties and consultants gain even more power.

“This is something that really should be defeated,” Mehan says. “And we don’t have a problem. This is a solution searching for a problem.”

But former Senator Johnson disagrees, telling Missourinet that Amendment One would eliminate most lobbyist gifts to lawmakers.

“I think folks back home in the districts, and I don’t represent a legislative district any longer, are tired of $900,000 a year being expended on gifts and ballgames and other social activities. They (Missouri lawmakers) ought to spend a little more time representing folks back home,” says Johnson.

Amendment One would also require state lawmakers to wait two years before becoming lobbyists. It’s currently one year.

Election Day is November 6.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Sen. Blunt leads Missouri Republicans in slamming Democrats over Supreme Court confirmation

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Sen. Roy Blunt was among Missouri’s Republican delegation in Washington who spoke out after the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh’s razor-thin confirmation vote of 50-to-48 was the narrowest margin in recent American history.  The proceedings were marked by extreme partisan rancor as Republicans accused Democrats in the Senate of outing sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh at the last minute.

On Sunday, Blunt was a guest on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures and he accused Democrats of underhandedly trying to smear Kavanaugh during and since Saturday’s confirmation.

“What they really continue to do is this unfair, really totally unrealistic behavior of guilty until proven innocent, of whatever we can do to stop our political opponents from being able to do what voters put them in place to do,” said Blunt.  “I just don’t think it works. It doesn’t work for them.”

Blunt said a comment by Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York, who said a probe into Kavanaugh’s actions is possible, will work against the party in the upcoming election.  Nadler, who would be in line to be the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Friday that an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct and perjury against Kavanaugh would take place if Democrats win control of the House in November.

Shortly before Kavanaugh’s scheduled confirmation, allegations from Christine Blasey Ford that he had tried to rape her at a house party in 1982 when they were both in high school were made public. Two other accusations followed. Deborah Ramirez alleged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college, and Julie Swetnick alleged she was gang-raped at a party Kavanaugh attended.

During his appearance on the conservative-leaning cable news channel, Blunt said Democratic efforts to obstruct Kavanaugh’s confirmation is galvanizing GOP base voters as the election approaches.

“Frankly, what they’ve managed to do is energize the Republican base in a way that usually the party that just won a presidential election, isn’t energized in the next election cycle,” Blunt said.

An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll from last week found that as the confirmation battle over Kavanaugh played out, Republicans became more energized, narrowing a 10-point enthusiasm gap held by Democrats in July to just 2 points in October – 82%-to-80%.

The native of southwest Missouri’s Niangua told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo that the Republican-led Congress has largely succeeded in passing important legislation despite Democratic efforts to hinder progress.

“We actually, oddly, have gotten a lot done in this Congress,” said Blunt.  “The appropriations bills at the right time, the FAA extension we just did, the opioid bill, the increase in healthcare funding. We are getting a lot done but nobody is able to see that because of so much noise and so much coverage of that noise.”

He also said Democrats have stubbornly refused to let Republicans, who occupy both houses of Congress and the presidency, fairly govern the country.

“This is an election where the side that lost has not been willing to accept the transfer of power, to be the reliable questioner of what’s going on, but not to challenge the constitutional opportunities that are there,” said Blunt.  “You know, just trying to get undersecretaries of this and that and the other confirmed in today’s Senate has been almost impossible and the Supreme Court fight we just went through shows how far, I think, the other side is prepared to take this.”

Missouri’s Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill offered no comment after Kavanaugh’s confirmation.  She said she would vote against him several weeks ago, not because of the sexual misconduct charges, but because of his judicial votes to allow large dark money donations to influence politics.

McCaskill was hammered by state and national Republicans for her no vote repeatedly following Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the fundraising arm of the Senate GOP, said McCaskill would lose her election because her vote was out of step with the state’s electorate.

“Claire McCaskill has proven time and again that Missourians can’t count on her to defend their values, and today’s vote against Judge Brett Kavanaugh is just the latest example,” said NRSC Spokesman Bob Salera. “McCaskill’s decision reeks of partisanship, and Missourians will see right through her weak excuses and vote her out of office next month.”

The state Republican Party accused McCaskill of being subservient to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

“Throughout this ordeal, Claire McCaskill refused to denounce her colleagues and stayed silent to her constituents,” said Todd Graves, Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party.  “Claire’s ‘NO’ vote on Brett Kavanaugh was fueled solely by her allegiance to Chuck Schumer and marks the eleventh time she’s voted against one of President Trump’s nominees.”

Republican Josh Hawley, McCaskill’s major party opponent in next month’s election, said her vote went against the wishes of the state’s residents.

“Senator McCaskill’s refusal to back Judge Kavanaugh is a betrayal of the people of Missouri,” said Hawley, who also slammed Democrats and McCaskill for “poisoning” the confirmation of Kavanaugh. “Her support for the disgraceful smear campaign carried out by her party indicates just how far she is willing to go to seize power, and how eager she is to overturn the 2016 election. Now her party is pledging to impeach Justice Kavanaugh. This radical obstruction and resistance will never stop—until we defeat Senator McCaskill at the polls. With the Senate in the balance, her defeat is now the urgent need of the hour for those who want to save this country.”

Missouri Republican Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer praised his Senate GOP counterparts for successfully finishing the confirmation of Kavanaugh.

“I’m proud of my Senate colleagues for adhering to the American ideals of fairness and due process throughout this nomination. Congratulations to Justice Brett Kavanaugh on his confirmation to United States Supreme Court,” said Luetkemeyer. “Based on his exemplary background and qualifications, Justice Kavanaugh will uphold our conservative American values for years to come.”

Republican Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler acknowledged the sexual misconduct charges were serious but noted Kavanaugh had been exonerated.  She chastised Senate Democrats for corroding the confirmation proceedings.

“What should have been a professional, non-partisan approach to investigating serious claims was turned into an embarrassing display of partisan vitriol by Senators determined to oppose any nominee of President Trump,” said Hartzler.  “Judge Kavanaugh has been a highly distinguished judge for decades, and his record has been thoroughly vetted and reviewed.”

Kansas City-based Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, like McCaskill, was silent after Saturday’s Senate vote.  St. Louis based Democratic Congressman William Lacy Clay retweeted a post featuring video of Democratic Senator Mazie Keiko Hirono of Hawaii, who said Kavanaugh was overly political during his confirmation and isn’t fit to be a Supreme Court Justice.

“He’s going to be on the Supreme Court with a huge taint and a big asterisk after his name. The partisanship that he showed was astounding.”

Hirono made her comments while appearing on ABC’s “This Week”.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Columbus Day is a federal and Missouri holiday

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Monday is Columbus Day, which is a federal, Missouri and county holiday.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

The holiday celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492.

Most federal, state and county offices are closed Monday, except for emergency services such as the Missouri State Highway Patrol, sheriff’s offices and state prisons.

County courthouses in Missouri are closed. Most banks and financial institutions are also closed, and there will be no regular mail delivery.

Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation into law in 1934, making Columbus Day a federal holiday. It’s been observed on the second Monday in October, since 1970.

Columbus Day is one of 12 Missouri state holidays.

The issue has been controversial in some parts of the country in recent years. The New York Times profiled the issue in a Friday story. The headline reads “Why Italian-Americans Still Fiercely Defend Columbus Day”.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri sheriff, on Robert Brashers: “He is a serial rapist and a serial killer, but no more”

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(Sound from the New Madrid County news conference is courtesy of Missourinet television partner KFVS)

Missouri state troopers say a now-deceased serial killer was responsible for the 1998 killings of a mother and daughter in southeast Missouri’s Portageville, as well as the gruesome rape and murder of a South Carolina woman in 1990.

Suspected serial killer Robert Brashers died in 1999 (photo courtesy of the Missouri State Highway Patrol)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) joined New Madrid County Sheriff Terry Stevens for a Friday morning news conference, to make the announcement.

Sheriff Stevens describes the murders of 38-year-old Sherri and 12-year-old Megan Scherer as one of the most heinous crimes in New Madrid County history.

“No telling how many hours have been put into this investigation,” Stevens says. “I have no doubt in my mind that this is the most heavily investigated case this county has ever seen.”

Stevens says a serial killer named Robert Brashers is responsible for all three murders, including the South Carolina death.

He says Brashers killed himself during a 1999 standoff with law enforcement officers in the Bootheel town of Kennett.

During that standoff, Kennett police learned that Brashers had active warrants from an April 12, 1998 incident in Paragould, Arkansas, where he had been arrested for trying to break into the home of a single woman.

That April incident was about two weeks after Sherri and Megan Scherer had been killed.

Missouri state troopers are crediting a DNA technology company called Parabon for helping to solve the Scherer murders.

Sheriff Stevens says Parabon’s technology identified Brashers as the suspect.

“Make no mistake about this gentleman, he is a serial rapist and a serial killer, but no more,” Stevens told reporters at the New Madrid County Courthouse.

Investigators say Brashers’ remains were exhumed on September 27, pursuant to a court order. They say that additional DNA samples were collected and that lab testing confirmed that Brashers’ DNA matched the suspect DNA in the Portageville murders, the 1990 South Carolina murder and the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old Tennessee girl.

As Sheriff Stevens and Missouri state troopers held their Friday morning news conference, law enforcement officers in Greenville, South Carolina held a separate news conference.

The “Greenville News” notes that Brashers was convicted of attempted second degree murder in 1986 in Florida, and served just three-and-a-half years in prison before being released in 1989.

Less than a year after being released from prison, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller says Brashers killed 28-year-old Genevieve Zitricki.

“He attacked her as she slept,” Chief Miller told South Carolina reporters on Friday. “He bludgeoned her, strangled her and sexually assaulted her.”

The “Greenville News” reports authorities in multiple states are now taking a closer look at Brashers in other cold cases.

The murder cases were profiled on “America’s Most Wanted.”

DDCC Sergeant Shawn Griggs praises what he describes as a coordinated effort between multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, all working together to bring resolution to the victims’ families.

Griggs notes that Missouri state troopers have been in contact with the Scherer family.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Serial killer reportedly murdered mother and daughter in rural Missouri town in 1998

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A mother and daughter who were brutally killed more than 20 years ago in southeast Missouri’s Bootheel were reportedly murdered by a serial killer.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s department in southeast Missouri’s New Madrid County have called a news conference for Friday morning in New Madrid.

38-year-old Sherri and 12-year-old Megan Scherer were shot to death inside their Portageville home on March 28, 1998.

The case has been unsolved until now, and state troopers say the identified suspect is dead.

Investigators assigned to the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) and New Madrid County Sheriff Terry Stevens will brief reporters Friday at 10 a.m. at the New Madrid County Courthouse. They’ll announce that DNA has identified a suspect in the murders.

The DDCC is the investigative branch of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Missourinet television partner KFVS reports the suspect is a serial killer, who also raped and murdered 28-year-old Genevieve Zitricki in Greenville, South Carolina in 1990.

The “Greenville News” reported in 2017 that DNA found at the South Carolina scene matched DNA from a 1998 double murder in southeast Missouri, and a shooting in Dyersville, Tennessee.

The FBI has also been investigating the murders in both Missouri and South Carolina.

KFVS reports the methods used to track the suspect down are new to law enforcement in southeast Missouri and across the nation.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Attorney for former Governor Greitens’ nonprofit trying to get lawsuit against it tossed

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A judge will determine if a lawsuit against former Governor Eric Greitens nonprofit organization A New Missouri will move forward.

Judge John Beetem of Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City heard arguments Thursday on a motion to dismiss the case by A New Missouri Attorney Catherine Hanaway.  She claims the lawyer bringing the litigation, St. Louis Lawyer Elad Gross, has no standing.

Gross is suing to force A New Missouri to disclose records revealing how it operates and spends money it receives.

Hanaway pointed out that Missouri law requires anybody who brings a lawsuit to have been impacted in some way by the defendant.  She said Gross had failed to establish that A New Missouri affected him in any way.

“It says that the person has to be the recipient of services or activities,” said Hanaway.  “He has not even pled that.  He has not even pled that there are services or activities of A New Missouri.”  Hanaway further stated that federal law prevents nonprofits such as A New Missouri from providing individualized benefits.

Gross didn’t name a service or benefit he’s received but claimed he had standing to bring the case because A New Missouri is a public benefit corporation and is subject to public oversight.

Hanaway told reporters after the court hearing that the nonprofit was not providing benefits to the public because it was an inactive organization.  In response, Gross said the organization was violating the state’s consumer protection law by accepting donations without performing any services.

“My next step now will be to file another lawsuit against A New Missouri for violating Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act,” said Gross.  “That does give private attorneys the right to do it, especially when the attorney general hasn’t done it.”

A New Missouri is classified as a 501 (c) (4) organization which, according to the Internal Revenue Service, must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare.  Under the designation, such organizations also aren’t required to reveal their donors.

Gross said that if the court took A New Missouri’s side and dismissed the case, the state would experience a wave of secretive nonprofit spending with no accountability.   “I have a very big worry that we’ll see a lot of changes to the nonprofit sector, especially with respect to dark money flowing through the state of Missouri,” Gross said.  “I think that the people really want to put an end to that.”

Attorney General Josh Hawley has acknowledged he has the authority to investigate nonprofits, but not political organizations, and has said the Missouri Ethics Commission has authority to investigate A New Missouri.

Gross, a former assistant attorney general, told reporters after the hearing that Hawley is skirting his responsibility to investigate nonprofits and accused him of accepting dark money in his current run for the U.S. Senate.  “Unfortunately, he’s taking a lot of the same donations from these folks he should be investigating, and he’s just not doing his job.”

The 32-year-old Gross worked in the attorney general’s office from 2014-0216 under Democrat Chris Koster.  He told reporters he’s thinking about running for the office himself, also as a Democrat.

Gross’s lawsuit also names three of the nonprofit’s officers as defendants and has been seeking deposition from them.  In court Thursday, Hanaway said the three people should be dropped from the suit because Gross cited a portion of the law in which to include them that assigns no duties or responsibilities as officers of A New Missouri.

In addition to representing Greitens nonprofit, Hanaway served as attorney for the former governor’s campaign.  She said she had no knowledge of his future political plans.  “The last time I talked to him he was barbecuing,”Hanaway said.  “He did not disclose where he was.”

Hanaway is a former Republican Speaker of the House in the Missouri legislature and is also a former U.S. Attorney.

Gross presented the Judge Beetem with several documents for the court to look over. The judge said he would not allow any evidence to be introduced because it would be premature to do so when he had yet to determine if the lawsuit would even move forward.  Beetem told both attorneys to present him with additional paperwork over the next couple of weeks.  He did not say when he would rule on the motion to dismiss.

Judge’s decision prevents Planned Parenthood’s Columbia facility from performing abortions

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Missouri is down to one abortion clinic after a court decision Wednesday.

A federal district court declined Planned Parenthood’s request to block a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

The organization’s Columbia clinic hasn’t had such a doctor since medical staff at the University of Missouri voted to stop offering those privileges in 2015 during an abortion probe by Republican state lawmakers.

Last month, a federal appeals court overturned a 2017 decision that blocked enforcement of Missouri laws that require admitting privileges and that abortion clinics to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers.

That decision didn’t take effect while Planned Parenthood considered whether to seek review of the case by the full appeals court (the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals).  But Wednesday’s ruling will prevent the Columbia facility from offering abortions.

The procedure is now only available in Missouri at Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis facility.

In addition, the license of the Columbia health center expired Tuesday.  Planned Parenthood says it’ll once again ask the court that declined its request Wednesday to block the admitting privileges requirement once the Columbia facility’s license is renewed.

In November 2016, Planned Parenthood’s two operators in Missouri filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the two restrictions. The litigation came after the U.S. Supreme Court determined earlier that year that Texas restrictions almost identical to Missouri’s were unconstitutional.

After the 2017 decision by a federal district court, Planned Parenthood announced intentions to expand its abortion services in Missouri. At the time, the procedure was only available at its St. Louis facility. Plans included offering either surgical or medication abortions in Kansas City, Columbia, Springfield, and Joplin.

The Kansas City operation lost its abortion facility license in August. The clinic said it sought timely renewal of its license, but the state Department of Health and Senior Services delayed the license after saying the agency was unable to conduct a complete inspection of the facility in June.

The clinic did not have an abortion doctor at the time and had stopped offering the procedure in late March when the provider left. The Kansas City center has since arranged for a new provider and continues to push for its license.

A planned expansion of services to Springfield and Joplin had initially been delayed by Missouri passing further restrictions in 2017.  Planned Parenthood the Wednesday decision requiring admitting privileges could further complicate plans for its facilities in Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia.