missouri attorney general eric schmitt Archives

Missouri man convicted of killing five grocery employees in 1987 will stay in prison

July 18, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A southeast Missouri judge has denied a legal effort from a man convicted of killing five people at a St. Louis supermarket almost 32 years ago.

Convicted killer Marvin Jennings is incarcerated in Potosi (2018 file photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Corrections)

Washington County Judge Troy Hyde has denied a petition for a writ of habeas corpus involving Marvin Jennings, who is serving a life sentence without parole for the high-profile 1987 killings at a National supermarket in north St. Louis.

Prosecutors say Jennings and an accomplice, Donnie Blankenship, shot the five supermarket employees to death on September 4, 1987. Two others were injured and survived, and some employees escaped injury by hiding on the roof.

Jennings says he’s innocent. Habeas corpus is an effort to determine whether a prison sentence is lawful.

“Jennings’ allegations in this petition are essentially attacks on evidentiary rulings by the trial court that have already been litigated in the ordinary course of review. He (Jennings) presents nothing new here,” Judge Hyde writes, in part.

Jennings has sought several state habeas actions in the past, and has also alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

“My most important duty as Attorney General is to protect all six million Missourians,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt says in a statement. “That entails prosecuting our state’s most violent offenders, but also ensuring that those offenders who were convicted, like Marvin Jennings, serve their sentence. Assistant Attorneys General in my office undertake important habeas corpus work, often behind the scenes and without recognition – they achieved a great result in this case.”

Jennings was convicted of five counts of first degree murder and eight counts of armed criminal action, along with several other felonies. He’s currently incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point.

Judge Hyde heard the case, because Potosi is located in Washington County.

Blankenship is incarcerated in Charleston.

Prosecutors say the five supermarket employees who were killed were Rose Brown, Michael Marr, Kenneth Bass, Michael Bean and David Spahn.

Offsets near southeast Missouri’s Fredericktown remains closed; owner appealing ruling

July 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s attorney general says a popular business and recreational lake in southeast Missouri that’s been the site of several deaths remains closed on this Fourth of July weekend.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (right) speaks at the St. Louis Clean Sweep event on June 14, 2019 (file photo courtesy of AG’s office)

Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) says “The Offsets” near Fredericktown is a lead mine turned swimming hole and that at least nine people have died there from drowning or falling off bluffs, since the early 1980’s.

Schmitt says “countless” others have been injured. The quarry is surrounded by 40-foot bluffs, where people have jumped into a lake.

Schmitt says Madison County Circuit Judge Wendy Horn has ordered the “Offsets” to be closed until several safety measures are implemented.

Some of those safety measures are a detailed emergency response plan and frequent staff training, stationing trained lifeguards in specific areas where jumping would be allowed and placing an additional lifeguard in a boat in the water to be able to rescue swimmers. Judge Horn has also ordered the Offsets to require all patrons jumping off bluffs to wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life vests.

“As Attorney General, my duty is to protect all six million Missourians, and ensuring that people can safely enjoy summer festivities falls under that duty,” Schmitt says.

Online court records indicate Farmington attorney Clinton Roberts, who represents Offsets Recreation LLC, is appealing Judge Horn’s ruling. Counselor Roberts’ appeal has been filed with the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District.

Former Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) filed the lawsuit against the Offsets in Madison County Circuit Court in Fredericktown in July 2018.

“And what the common fact pattern here is that they jump from this very high point, they injure themselves upon entry into the water and then they are not able to swim because there’s no dock,” Hawley told Missourinet in a July 2018 interview.

Hawley said all nine people who have died at the quarry/lake were healthy males between the ages of 16 and 21.

The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” has reported that 19-year-old Cole Duffell of Chesterfield died at the Offsets on the Fourth of July 2018, after jumping off a cliff into the lake.

Missouri Attorney General’s office joins FBI efforts to fight human trafficking, exploiting children

May 21, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

The FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force has added a powerful law enforcement force – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office. During a press conference Monday in Kansas City, Schmitt says human trafficking is an epidemic.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt

“Human trafficking remains one of the top priorities of my office, and we will continually work to build partnerships and compile resources to combat this horrific practice. Whether you’re aware of it or not, human trafficking is happening in Missouri,” he says. “It’s my duty, as attorney general, to do everything we can to combat this practice – these horrible schemes to profit from our most vulnerable and the defenseless.”

The FBI’s task force is made up of eight departments, including the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, Joplin Police Department, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas City Missouri Police Department, Overland Park Police Department, Springfield Missouri Police Department, Topeka Police Department and Wichita Police Department.

The Attorney General’s Office also has resources to show citizens how to spot human trafficking and how to report it, as well as hotline numbers. Trafficking reports can be made at Makemofree.com or by calling the FBI.

Parson says soldiers will not fight St. Louis crime: “We can’t take over the law enforcement jobs”

April 12, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson

St. Louis alderman Brandon Bosley wants Governor Mike Parson to send Missouri National Guard soldiers to his city to fight crime. Parson tells Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia that’s not going to happen.

“I’ve had the pleasure of serving in the military as a military policeman in my career and also on the law enforcement side for 22 years. Those are two totally different functions of government,” he says. “I get the frustration, but that’s not the function of the (National) Guard.”

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bosley says his strategy is partially motivated because of a large shortage of St. Louis police officers. Bosley goes on to say we are not in Afghanistan and the level of violent crime there is not normal.

St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley

“At the end of the day, they’ve got to figure out some solutions up there in their own neighborhoods. We’re here to assist wherever we can but we can’t take over the law enforcement jobs in St. Louis,” says Parson.

During a press conference this week in St. Louis about violent crime, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Bosley rightly points out that something must be done but Schmitt says the decision is up to the governor. In January, Schmitt launched a collaboration between his office and Missouri’s U.S. Attorney’s Offices to prosecute more violent crime cases. On Thursday, five Assistant U.S. Attorneys were sworn into office to help with the heavy caseload in the St. Louis region.