Judge issues order holding Dept. of Corrections in contempt for failure to release 81-year-old

The attorney general’s office has again opposed the release of an individual whose criminal conviction was overturned. This time, a circuit court judge issued an order of contempt against the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) for its failure to release an 81-year-old defendant.

Judge David Jones of the Greene County Circuit Court issued an order Aug. 7 holding DOC in contempt after it failed to release Howard Roberts. Roberts was sentenced to prison after being found guilty in 2018 of committing fraud against an elderly woman, according to his attorney Jonathan Sternberg with Sternberg Law.

Jones sentenced Roberts to 20 years in prison. Sternberg said that while Jones has since retired, the Supreme Court of Missouri allowed him to stay on the case as he was the original judge on Roberts’ trial.

Earlier this year, Jones granted Roberts’ post-conviction claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and ordered a retrial. In the meantime, he ordered that Roberts be released immediately, Sternberg said.

That still has not happened. In keeping with its pattern of denying release to those who have had their convictions overturned in the state, the attorney general’s office has opposed Roberts’ release for months.

In addition to Roberts, Attorney General Andrew Bailey has opposed a hearing of new evidence in the case of Marcellus Williams and the release of exonerees Christopher Dunn and Sandra Hemme.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case, nor did the Missouri Department of Corrections.

On Aug. 7 in a hearing before Judge Jones that lasted approximately 45 minutes, Sternberg and the attorney general’s offices made their arguments before the court regarding whether Roberts should be immediately released, or if he must remain in prison while the attorney general’s office appeals the order.

The state argued that Rule 30.17 provides for an automatic stay of the circuit court’s decision to release Roberts, according to Jones’ order. However, Sternberg argued that the rule does not indicate that, and Jones agreed.

Jones added that the rule “directly conflicts with Article I Section 20 of the Missouri Constitution which guarantees an individual the right to bail.”

DOC now has eight days to release Roberts, or it will be fined $1,000 a day.

“I think this is largely political,” Sternberg said. “The current Attorney General Mr. Bailey has some odd ideas about how the law should be and how politics and government should work.”

So far, all of Bailey’s attempts to block the release of those who have their convictions overturned have failed.

“He was appointed, and now he’s running for re-election and needs to appear tough on crime, as they say,” Sternberg said. “So, he’s trying to keep innocent people or people whose rights have been violated in prison.”

A Missouri attorney general so actively fighting against post-conviction relief is highly unusual, Sternberg said. It is also the first time in his 16-year career he has seen the department of corrections held in contempt for its failure to release someone.

“I had in my career a couple of other times judge’s order my client released from prison and I have never had this kind of pushback before,” he said.

In another unusual development, Roberts was initially granted parole effective Aug. 11 of this year and that was later changed to Aug. 11, 2026, Sternberg said. This, combined with his advanced age and the years he has already spent in prison, has taken a toll on Roberts, he said.

The attorney general’s office can file an appeal or writ of prohibition with the Missouri Court of Appeals or state supreme court, Sternberg said.

The case is Howard Roberts v. State of Missouri Case No. 2031-CC00165