PAR Broadcasting received a news release from PETA that claims, in part, the Sullivan County Prosecuting Attorney should investigate an incident at the Smithfield Farmland Foods plant near Milan. Quoting the news release, PETA says it obtained USDA documentation revealing workers kicked a pig, eliciting a cry, and struck other pigs with the use of […]
Tag: prosecutor
Push for expanded Missouri gambling puts casinos, video operators in opposing camps
(Missouri Independent) – Approving video lottery would produce more than 10 times the new state revenue of sports wagering and drive cash-prize video games of debated legality out of Missouri, a newly updated report contends. The report, prepared by Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC and Global Gaming & Hospitality Capital Advisors LLC and paid for by companies that […]
Trenton City Council investigating possibility of full-time prosecuting attorney
The Trenton City Council is requesting more information before it can decide whether to give an endorsement allowing a public vote to make the Grundy County Prosecuting Attorney position full-time instead of the current part-time. Kelly Puckett is the Prosecuting Attorney and prosecutes cases investigated by Trenton Police that result in felony charges. That’s in […]
Audio: Missouri prosecutor declines to charge reporter for finding state website flaw
A Missouri prosecutor has declined to file charges against a reporter for finding a data flaw in a state Department of Education website. The Cole County Prosecutor’s Office is not charging a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter for finding the state’s glitch that had the ability to publicly show the social security numbers of […]
Audio: Senator Roy Blunt expresses concern of police officer shortages
U.S. Senator Roy Blunt says he’s concerned about the shortage of law enforcement officers in Washington, D-C, and here in Missouri. The Republican says the U.S. Capitol Police force is about 200 officers below the authorized level of two thousand, but it’s not just a problem there. The city of St. Louis and […]
Audio: Missing child found in Missouri wearing dog collar, man accused of rape and other crimes
A Chesterfield, Missouri man is facing a slew of child rape charges after a 15-year-child was found with a dog collar strapped around her neck that the prosecutor says 38-year-old John Low put on her. The 15-year-old girl was reported missing from Manhattan, Kansas. The St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says the man […]
As Missouri looks to legalize recreational marijuana, expungement gets renewed attention
(Missouri Independent) – The push to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri is coming from multiple directions, with a handful of proposed initiative petitions and at least one bill, and potentially more, backed by Republican lawmakers. Each hopes to place the issue on the 2022 ballot for voter approval. And each proposal also includes a […]
Polo man charged with murder pleads guilty in Livingston County court
A Polo man charged with first-degree murder after a shooting in Polo in January 2021 pleaded guilty in Livingston County on January 6th. Online court information shows the prosecutor dismissed three counts for 36-year-old Kevin Lynn Barnett Junior. The dismissed counts were felonies of first-degree assault or attempt, armed criminal action, and first-degree robbery. The […]
Judge sets aside conviction: After 43-years in prison, Kevin Strickland is a free man
After spending 43-years in prison, a Kansas City man convicted of a triple murder is a free man. Judge James Welsh concluded that prosecutors met the burden of providing convincing evidence that undermines Strickland’s conviction in the 1978 murder of three people. The judge also pointed out that there was no physical evidence […]
Audio: Trafficking investigation of Philippines-based church indicates there could be victims in Missouri
The investigation into alleged sex and labor trafficking by a Philippines-based church indicates there could be victims in Missouri. Administrators at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are accused of coercing girls and women to have sex with their church leader under threats of “eternal damnation.” The federal indictment alleges they brought church members […]
Audio: Evidence hearing grew tense during testimony in Kevin Strickland case
An evidence hearing grew tense about a man convicted of killing three people in Missouri in 1978. Day three of Kevin Strickland’s hearing continues in western Missouri’s Jackson County. Strickland has maintained his innocence and has said he was not at the crime scene. Jackson County prosecutors say a woman shot during the murders later […]
Audio: Convicted Missouri triple murderer takes the stand in hearing that could lead to exoneration
After more than 40 years in prison, a man convicted of a 1978 triple murder in Missouri headed to court for a hearing in which he maintained his innocence. Kevin Strickland took the stand for his first-ever hearing since being convicted. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who says the man is innocent, questioned Strickland […]
Four sex offenders found violating regulations on Halloween night in Trenton
The Trenton Police Department checked residences of sex offenders on Halloween night to ensure all were compliant with the regulations a sex offender is required to adhere to. The law requires offenders to avoid all Halloween-related contact with children and stay inside their homes between the hours of 5 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Offenders are […]
Eric Greitens accused of illegally funneling $100K to his Senate campaign
(Missouri Independent) – A Washington, D.C., campaign finance watchdog has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens alleging he improperly spent more than $100,000 on his U.S. Senate campaign. The complaint, filed Thursday by Campaign Legal Center, contends that Greitens has been illegally using leftover money from his gubernatorial […]
Audio: Missouri works to get statewide prescription drug monitoring program off the ground
Missouri is working to get its statewide prescription drug monitoring program off the ground. The Legislature passed and Governor Parson signed a bill into law this year, making Missouri the last state in the country to put a program on the books that keeps track of prescription drugs. Greg Gilmore, owner of Grand Pharmacy in […]
Video: Hawley rips Garland over attempt to weaponize FBI against parents, calls for his resignation
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley ripped Attorney General Merrick Garland over his attempt to weaponize the Federal Bureau of Investigation against parents and called for his resignation. Senator Hawley questioned the Attorney General on a memo from the District of Montana U.S. Attorney’s office outlining federal causes of action prosecutors […]
Lawmaker urges Missouri governor to finally appoint cybersecurity commission
(Missouri Independent) – A day after Missouri Gov. Mike Parson garnered national criticism for his push to prosecute a newspaper reporter who discovered a security flaw in a state website, a Democratic lawmaker is urging the governor to appoint members of a cybersecurity commission created by a bill he signed in July. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch informed […]
Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website
(Missouri Independent) – On Tuesday, a reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch alerted the state that Social Security numbers of school teachers and administrators were vulnerable to public exposure due to flaws on a website maintained by Missouri’s department of education. The newspaper agreed to hold off publishing any story while the department fixed the problem and […]
Missouri Attorney General slams Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney General for attempting to intimidate parents
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt today sent a letter to the Department of Justice and Attorney General Garland slamming their decision to publish a memo that directs the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice to work with federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially prosecute parents who show up to school board meetings to […]
Missouri man sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole for carrying almost 2.5 pounds of fentanyl aboard a train
A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for smuggling more than a kilogram of fentanyl in his luggage aboard a train that stopped in Kansas City, Mo., from Los Angeles, Calif., bound for St. Louis, Mo. Joseph D. Christie, 43, of Poplar Bluff, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 10 […]