Missouri Bar Archives

On the election ballot: 53 Missouri judges who want to keep their jobs

October 8, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri voters will decide in November whether 53 nonpartisan judges should stay on the bench. They will have at least two judges on their ballot as part of so-called retention elections. One Missouri Supreme Court judge, four Court of Appeals judges, 27 circuit court judges and 22 associate circuit court judges hope to remain in their position.

On the election ballot: 53 Missouri judges who want to keep their jobs

The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee has analyzed the performance of each judge. They were evaluated on things like courtroom conduct, writing clear opinions, and whether they issued timely opinions.

Dale Doerhoff, the chairman of the 21-member committee, says the surveys give voters a better look at the inner workings of a judge’s courtroom.

“People tend to vote if they believe they have enough information to make an informed vote,” says Doerhoff. “And the fact that we’re providing this information then allows them to make an informed vote. So that also contributes to the overall accountability of judges in Missouri.”

Doerhoff says over the past four years, hundreds of thousands of Missourians have checked out the results to help them make informed decisions at the polls.

“We also are encouraged by the fact that in Missouri, we have one of the highest participation averages of any state in how many people who vote on the top of the ticket are still voting when it gets to the retention elections,” says Doerhoff.

The committee is made up of nine lawyers, nine non-lawyers and three retired judges. He says before members review the performance of each judge, all identifying information is removed to keep the evaluations objective.

“We believe that our work – the Judicial Performance Review Committee – and our findings and the information we provide to the voters is really an alternative to negative political ads. Although our judges may in the nonpartisan plan are not on the ballot as politicians, if we were in a state where it was partisan, then there would be partisan politics and campaign money and create the impression that justice was for sale,” says Doerhoff.

The Missouri Bar shares the independent committee’s findings with the public and funds the review process created in 2008.

To see the performance information for yourself before casting your vote, go to YourMissouriJudges.org

Missouri Bar committee to propose review of expungement laws

May 5, 2014 By Mike Lear

The same committee that set into motion work during the past eight years to update Missouri’s criminal code is preparing to ask for a similar review of the state’s expungement laws.

Missouri Bar President Jack Brady

The Missouri Bar’s Criminal Law Committee will propose Friday to the Bar’s Board of Governors a review of laws allowing Missourians to ask that some offenses be wiped from their criminal records.

Missouri law allows individuals to petition the courts for expungement of offenses including a first driving while intoxicated offense, felony or misdemeanor passing a bad check or fraudulent use of a credit or debit device, when certain conditions are met. Successful petitions can result in the restoration of some rights, such as serving on a jury, and proponents argue citizens’ ability to advance in careers and move on with life is hindered when an offense isn’t eligible to be expunged.

“Expungement is basically to give an opportunity for those people who might have done one stupid thing at one time to get it off their record,” says Missouri Bar President Jack Brady.

He says the issue has been raised with several proposed pieces of legislation in recent sessions of the General Assembly. The Criminal Law Committee felt that was an issue that should be studied on its own and not as part of the larger criminal code review.

Senator Jolie Justus (courtesy; Missouri Senate Communications)

Senator Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City) is hopeful that the review will result in some expansion of current law.

“There should be some path for some citizens to get to expungement,” Justus tells Missourinet, but she says the scope will have its limits. “This can’t be for violent offenders. This can’t be for murders, rapists, sex offenders, I mean it’s very clear that those folks need to have that record follow them.”

Brady says there is no preconceived notion of what offenses might be considered for addition to expungement laws, now how many offenses a person might be allowed to petition on.

“I have a lot of confidence in the prosecutors and the public defenders and the criminal defense bar and the judges that we’ve worked with on the criminal law reviews,” says Brady. “I’ve got a lot of confidence that they’ll be able to take all of those factors into consideration and hopefully develop a plan.”

Representative Kim Gardner (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Some lawmakers disagree with the decision not to rewrite expungement law as part of the criminal code review.

Representative Kim Gardner (D-St. Louis City) says to her, the issues go together.

“I’m glad that the Bar is taking ownership that something needs to be done in this area, but now lets really get something together because I don’t think it should take as long as the criminal code … it should be a no-brainer.”

Missouri law allows courts to retain files on expunged cases under seal and only available through a court order. A crime that has been expunged can still be considered a previous offense if the person who committed it commits another crime.

Criminal code crafters honored with superhero artwork

April 24, 2014 By Mike Lear

Some of the lawmakers and others who worked on the proposed update of the criminal code sent to Governor Jay Nixon (D) Thursday have been honored in a piece of art to mark its passage out of the legislature.

The poster depicts superhero charicatures of 13 people who worked on the proposed revision of Missouri’s criminal code, sent Thursday to Governor Nixon.

The poster features Senators Jolie Justus and Bob Dixon, Representatives Stanley Cox and Chris Kelly, Eric Jennings who works in Senator Dixon’s office, Executive Director of the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services Jason Lamb, Deputy Director of Missouri Kids First Emily Van Schenkhof, Chief Executive Officer with the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Colleen Coble, lobbyists for the Missouri Bar Woody Cozad and Catherine Barrie, lobbyist for the Missouri Supreme Court Betsy Aubuchon, and lobbyist Ward Cook.

Missouri Bar legislative counsel Eric Wilson, who is also featured on the poster, asked his friend Ronald Barba draw the poster.

See our story on passage of the criminal code bill and on the last round of changes

Legislature will try to get criminal code rewrite to Gov. Nixon next week

April 18, 2014 By Mike Lear

State lawmakers who have spent years crafting an update to Missouri’s system of criminal laws and punishments hope to send Governor Jay Nixon (D) a bill next week.

Representative Stanley Cox (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

House and Senate versions of that rewrite were passed last week, and lawmakers in both chambers met this week to discuss differences between those versions and reach a compromise. They plan to attempt to make those changes to the Senate bill (SB 491) in a House committee, and get it through both chambers and to the Governor next week.

“We have a bill which is satisfactory to the sponsors in both houses,” says Representative Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia), the sponsor of the House legislation.

One of the major differences between the two versions dealt with penalties for first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana. The Senate version would eliminate jail time for possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana, while the House version would maintain the current penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Senator Jolie Justus (courtesy; Missouri Senate Communications)

Senator Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City) says the two sides struck a “tentative” compromise.

“We kept it so that if you have 35 or less grams of marijuana and it’s a first-time offense it’ll be a Class-A misdemeanor which is what it is now, but if you have 10 grams or less of marijuana and it’s a first-time offense then it will be moved to a Class-D misdemeanor, which is not going to be subject to jail time. It will be fine only.”

In response to concerns about the size of the legislation expressed by Governor Nixon, Senate lawmakers had removed some 400 pages that reclassified certain felonies and added a fifth level of felony offense. Justus says that will be restored.

“When we sat down and worked it out with the House members, frankly, we realized that cutting that out was kind of defeating the purpose of what we’d set out to do in the first place without really addressing the Governor’s issues,” says Justus.

The proposal will still come out smaller than the House’s more than 1000-page bill, though. Cox says that’s because those from his chamber agreed to remove language dealing with weapons penalties.

“There were lots of issues with that,” Cox says. “We thought it best not to try to address that. Some of it had to do with other legislation passing through the legislature this year.”

The bill still won’t be broken down into smaller pieces based on subject matter, which is what Nixon had indicated he wanted. Justus says lawmakers don’t feel that can be done.

Nixon says the size of the bill leaves too much room for error, and he dismisses legislators’ position that the bill will be vetted after passage by the Missouri Supreme Court and its effective date has been pushed back to 2017, to allow time for changes if necessary.

Justus and Cox both say if necessary, they think the legislature could overturn the Governor if he were to veto the bill.

“Obviously we’ll take a look at the veto message if there is one,” Justus says.

If the bill is sent to Nixon it would be the culmination of years of work for both lawmakers.

“The closer we get the more nervous I get,” Justus tells Missourinet, but adds she is confident the bill has been thoroughly vetted starting with its drafting by a Missouri Bar committee, followed by five years of committee work leading up to full chamber consideration.

Cox agrees. “I feel confident that we’ll get it done this year.”