Rochelle Walton Gray Archives

Bill proposed to address sentencing of juveniles convicted of murder

February 18, 2014 By Mike Lear

A bill has been heard in a House committee that aims to solve a problem with the sentencing of juveniles found guilty of first-degree murder in Missouri.

Representative Stanley Cox (right) listens as Matt Selby with the Missouri Prosecutors Association testifies in favor of Cox’s bill.

A 2005 Missouri Supreme Court ruling eliminated the sentence of death for juveniles. Then in 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that when there is no alternative to life without parole, that is an inappropriate sentence for someone under 18.

Representative Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia) says that leaves it up to the state legislature to put an alternative in the law, and his bill (HB 1560) proposes one.

“The choices will be that they can have life without parole,” says Cox, “Or alternatively … they can have a sentence of 50 years without parole and then be subject to parole.”

Representative Rochelle Walton Gray (D-Black Jack) says that’s not much of a choice.

“When you say 50 years you may as well be saying life for an 18 year-old, or anyone older than that, as a matter of fact, so you’re really not trying to give any other options for the most part,” Walton Gray says to Cox. “It’s just that you know that with the decision that was made you have to come up with an option as far as the Court is concerned.”

Joplin attorney William Fleischaker says Cox’s proposal misses the intent of a Supreme Court ruling in 2012.

“You can’t automatically sentence a youthful offender to life without parole and, in my opinion, the equivalent of life without parole,” Fleischaker tells the committee, “Without considering various youth-related factors.”

The lack of an alternative is what attorneys for Alyssa Bustamante cite in a recent hearing in which she seeks to vacate her guilty plea in the 2009 murder of her 9-year-old neighbor, Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante’s lawyers argue that the lack of an alternative to life without parole intimidated her into agreeing to a guilty plea. Those lawyers cite the same 2012 Supreme Court case, Miller vs. Alabama, that Cox references in support of his bill.

No vote has been taken on Cox’s bill.

Supreme Court decisions allow Nasheed, Taylor to run in August

June 19, 2012 By Mike Lear

Two decisions handed down today by the Missouri Supreme Court clear the way for two St. Louis-area democrat state lawmakers to run in the August Primary.

Representatives Jamilah Nasheed and Sylvester Taylor II

The Court upheld the trial court ruling that Representative Sylvester Taylor II can run in the 75th House District against Representative Rochelle Walton Gray. Gray petitioned the trial court saying that Taylor was ineligible because he didn’t live in that district for one year prior to the general election. The Supreme Court’s ruling says he only has to have lived in the county or any of the districts from which the 75th was drawn during reapportionment, and Taylor meets those criteria.

See the summary and the decision on the Walton Gray petition.

The Court overturned a trial court decision barring Representative Jamilah Nasheed from running in the 5th Senate District against Senator Robin Wright-Jones and Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford. Wright-Jones had petitioned that Nasheed was not eligible because she didn’t live in the district. The Court says an exception in the Constitution that lets a candidate live in any district from which the new district was drawn in the year prior to reapportionment.

See the summary and the decision on the Wright-Jones petition.

The Court usually accepts post-motion opinions for 15 days after handing down a decision, but under the expedited nature of this case that deadline is tomorrow. Its decision is not final until it issues a mandate.

Supreme Court to consider legislative residency cases (AUDIO)

June 15, 2012 By Mike Lear

The Supreme Court will consider two cases in which Democrat state lawmakers have been told they can’t run in the districts they want to, in the August primary.

Representatives Jamilah Nasheed and Sylvester Taylor (photos courtesy, Missouri House Communications)

The Missouri Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled Black Jack Representative Sylvester Taylor can’t run in a St. Louis County District against Representative Rochelle Walton Gray because he doesn’t live there. Wednesday, it ruled that St. Louis Representative Jamilah Nasheed can’t run in a St. Louis state Senate district against Senator Robin Wright-Jones and Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford, for the same reason.

The Supreme Court this afternoon agreed to hear both cases and to expedite them.

The Court took them up “on briefs,” meaning the cases presented to the appellate court are what the Supreme Court will consider. Spokeswoman Beth Riggert says it’s an unusual move.

“On occasion, the Court will have certain types of cases that it needs to expedite, and election cases like this where there is a deadline looming, the Court will do what it can to process the case and move it forward as quickly as it is able, while still giving the parties in the case a full opportunity to be heard, which is what’s happening here. The parties have already had the opportunity to fully brief the case and argue the case, and this allows the court to move that case forward as quickly as it is able to a decision.”

The Court’s decision could be handed down at any time, and could affect more than two dozen other candidates in the state.

AUDIO: Mike Lear reports, :55