The Missouri Supreme Court has sided with the state’s public defenders in the so-called Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights challenge case.
Missouri State Public Defender Mary Fox and other public defenders challenged the part of the law that required the defense in a sex crimes case to inform the alleged victim of their rights to talk with a rape crisis center. The defenders argued it was not their job to inform alleged victims and a lower court agreed, calling the requirement unconstitutional.
Republican Senator Holly Thompson Rehder, of southeast Missouri’s Scott City, has accused a group of further-leaning Republicans of hijacking her bill that would clarify the issue.
