State Rep. Shamed Dogan Archives

Missouri’s governor grants 24 pardons; lawmakers hope Patty Prewitt is on the list

December 21, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor granted pardons on Monday to 24 people he says have demonstrated a changed lifestyle and desire to move on from past behaviors.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on December 2, 2020 (file photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

They are the first pardons granted by Governor Mike Parson (R), who took office in June 2018. The governor’s office isn’t releasing the names of the 24, until families have been notified.

“If we are to be a society that believes in forgiveness and second chances, then it is the next chapter in these individuals lives that will matter most,” Governor Parson says, in a written statement. “We are encouraged and hopeful that those individuals will take full advantage of this opportunity.”

The governor also says his legal team continues to review clemency files, and will keep working to reduce the backlog he inherited. There are currently 3,695 pending clemency applications.

Governor Parson has also announced that he’s commuting three prior drug offenders to house arrest. After their home plan is approved by Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board, those three inmates will serve the rest of their terms under house arrest.

The governor’s office will release more information about the 24 pardons at a later date.

State Reps. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, and Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, have called on the governor to grant clemency for 70-year-old Patty Prewitt, who’s been incarcerated for 34 years.

Prewitt is serving a life prison term for first degree murder, for the 1984 death of her husband in western Missouri’s Holden. She has maintained her innocence since that time, saying an intruder killed her husband and attacked her. 56 Missouri lawmakers in both parties signed the Dogan-McCreery letter that says Prewitt’s continued incarceration is not in the state’s interest.

“I remain hopeful that Patty Prewitt is on this (24 pardon) list,” McCreery tweeted at Missourinet Monday evening.

Prewitt is incarcerated at the state prison in northwest Missouri’s Chillicothe. Unless the governor grants clemency, Prewitt won’t be eligible for parole until 2036. She would be 86.

Dogan: vehicle stops report highlights largest racial disparity in Missouri history (AUDIO)

July 24, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House committee will hear testimony Wednesday morning in Clayton about racial profiling and civil asset forfeiture. The House Special Committee on Criminal Justice will hold the 9 a.m. hearing at the St. Louis County Council chambers.

State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, speaks on the Missouri House floor on February 7, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri’s 2018 vehicle stops report shows African-Americans were 91 percent more likely to be stopped than white motorists. State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, who chairs the committee, tells Missourinet it’s a continuation of a troubling trend in Missouri.

“We’ve been collecting this data for 20-plus years and when we started out, they found that African-Americans were 33 percent more likely to be stopped in vehicle stops than whites and now it’s all the way up to 91 percent,” Dogan says.

He says that’s the largest racial disparity in Missouri history. His committee will be hearing testimony today, and Dogan hopes to hear from law enforcement officers, prosecutors, community leaders and the public.

“Well we hope to get people’s individual perspectives whether they’ve been racially profiled, suspected they’ve been racially profiled,” says Dogan.

He says there are currently no consequences for racial profiling, in state law.

Chairman Dogan expects the committee to draft a report by December, and wants to see reform legislation filed in January. Dogan says the committee is also looking into civil asset forfeiture, in addition to racial profiling.

“So we’re hoping to find some sort of common ground where law enforcement will, one, admit that there are problems with both of these issues and two, help us find out what some solutions are that are going to be palatable to them,” Dogan says.

He notes State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) found that $9.1 million in cash and property were seized in 2018 through civil asset forfeiture, compared to $7.1 million in 2017.

The committee will hold a second hearing on August 1 at 9 a.m. at the Robert Mohart Center in Kansas City.

The House Special Committee on Criminal Justice was formed during the 2019 session, to explore ways to reform Missouri’s criminal justice system.

Dogan’s ranking Democrat is State Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, who chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus.

Dogan and Roberts worked together with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass House bill 192 this year, which revises mandatory minimum sentences. It requires Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board to evaluate those serving mandatory minimums and decide if they should be released.

Supporters say about 48 percent of Missouri’s prison population is serving time for drug offenses and other nonviolent crime.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, which was recorded on July 22, 2019: