Potosi Correctional Center Archives

Missouri Supreme Court issues key ruling involving juvenile murderer

November 24, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri prisoner who was 16 when she killed a man during a meth transaction in western Missouri’s Cass County will remain in prison for now, under a key ruling Tuesday from the Missouri Supreme Court.

Convicted killer Jessica Hicklin is currently incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point (June 2020 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections)

The inmate, 41-year-old Jessica Hicklin, was sentenced in April 1997 to mandatory life without parole. Hicklin is incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional Center in southeast Missouri’s Mineral Point.

Prosecutors say Hicklin was 16 when Sean Smith was shot and killed.

Hicklin began challenging her sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2012 that juveniles cannot be given mandatory sentences of life without parole.

In Tuesday’s 20-page unanimous decision, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected Hicklin’s claim that the Missouri statute giving her parole eligibility after 25 years is unconstitutional.

In its ruling, the state court notes U.S. Supreme Court precedent gives states two options for fixing mandatory juvenile life-without-parole sentences for juveniles already sentenced: either resentence them or give them meaningful opportunity for release after considering certain circumstances, including their youth.

Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) spokeswoman Karen Pojmann tells Missourinet that Hicklin’s parole hearing is tentatively set for July 2021. The murder happened in 1995, and Hicklin entered state prison in April 1997 but received credit for time served in the county jail.

Hicklin also contended that the authority of Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board violates the state’s separation of powers. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected that.

Tuesday’s decision was written by Missouri Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith. You can read the full 20-page ruling here.

Missouri Supreme Court considers case that could impact sentences for teen murderers

March 4, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The State Supreme Court is reviewing an appeal from a convicted murderer that could overturn mandatory life without parole sentences for all teens convicted of first-degree murder in Missouri. The case involves 43-year-old David Barnett, who’s serving life without parole for robbing and stabbing to death his grandparents in 1996 at their home in the St. Louis suburb of Glendale.

David Barnett (Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Corrections)

During a court hearing today in Jefferson City, his attorney, Rosemary Percival, contends that Barnett was 19 years old when he committed the crimes – within an age range that should get an individualized sentence. She says his sentence is unconstitutional.

“I realize that the weight of the case law is against us,” Percival says. “However, the court should look at evolving standards of decency. In that regard, one of the considerations is whether states are moving towards that point. We do have that point where states (Legislatures) are moving to expand to 21 realizing that people who are in this age group, from 18-21, have many of the same characteristics as the middle or early adolescents. In late adolescents, the brain is still developing. In fact, it develops into the mid-20s. So, for David Barnett, at the time that he committed his crime, he lacked the ability to control his impulses.”

Percival says states treat the age group much differently.

“They’re not even allowed to serve on jury duty. We don’t trust them enough to let them buy alcohol or cigarettes. They can’t get a credit card without having a co-signer. These statutes show that society views this age range as less able to take on these responsibilities. They remain reckless and impulsive,” she says.

Current state law prohibits life sentences for juveniles under the age of 18. An Assistant Missouri Attorney General, Evan Buchheim, argues that age limit is the only bar that has been set.

“If the court wants to increase that to under 21, then that is a matter that’s within the discretion of the United States Supreme Court,” says Buchheim.

Barnett was previously sentenced to death, but that sentence was overturned in 2015. He was resentenced last March to life without parole.

Barnett is at the Potosi Correctional Center in southeast Missouri.

The high court could rule on the case at any time.

Death sentence and murder conviction upheld in 2009 central Missouri case

December 10, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the murder conviction and death sentence in a high-profile 2009 mid-Missouri case.

Convicted killer David Hosier is incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center in southeast Missouri’s Mineral Point (January 2018 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections)

64-year-old David Hosier was convicted of first degree murder and armed criminal action for the 2009 killing of Angela Gilpin of Jefferson City.

Court documents say Hosier had been having an affair with Gilpin, who was a married woman. The court filings say the affair ended, and that Angela reconciled with her husband Rodney in August 2009.

Prosecutors say Hosier broke into Angela Gilpin’s apartment in September 2009, shooting and killing both Angela and her husband.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in April, and Hosier’s public defender, Amy Bartholow, argued that his trial counsel was ineffective. She also said that Hosier’s trial counsel should have called a psychiatrist at trial to testify about a stroke and brain damage that Hosier had suffered.

Bartholow told the court during April’s oral arguments that Hosier’s “brain is dead in places.”

Hosier’s public defender, Bartholow, said Hosier suffered a transient ischemic attack in 2007. Her court filings say 2007 medical records from Audrain Medical Center indicate that.

Missouri Assistant Attorney General Greg Barnes argued the case before the Supreme Court in April, saying Hosier was represented by highly-experienced legal counsel.

“Trial counsel, guilt phase trial counsel had over 150 trials worth of experience over many years in both Texas and Missouri,” Barnes told the Supreme Court in April.

Barnes also questioned whether Hosier had a stroke, telling the court in April that the stroke “didn’t explain the 1986 assault on his wife or his threat to kill multiple law enforcement officers or to kidnap his kids and take them to Mexico during that time.”

In a unanimous 7-0 decision written by Judge Paul Wilson, the Missouri Supreme Court today unanimously affirmed Hosier’s convictions, which means he remains under a death sentence.

Click here to read the Missouri Supreme Court’s 31-page opinion.

Hosier remains incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional Center in southeast Missouri’s Mineral Point.

While Hosier is suspected of killing Rodney Gilpin, he was never charged for the second murder.

Court documents say Hosier was captured in Oklahoma after the 2009 Jefferson City murders, after urging Oklahoma police officers to shoot him “and get it over with.” The court filings say a STEN submachine gun was used to kill Angela and Rodney Gilpin, and that Oklahoma authorities found it in Hosier’s vehicle. They also found 15 firearms, ammunition, a bulletproof vest, crowbar, latex gloves and a knife.

The court documents also say that Jefferson City Police found an application for a protective order against Hosier, in Angela Gilpin’s purse, after the murders. The court filings also say there was a document in her purse, stating that she was afraid Hosier might shoot her and her husband.

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.