Missouri Lawyers Media Missouri legal news and public notices

After Jeffrey Barton died while in police custody, his personal representative (Regina) filed suit, alleging the county deputy (Martin) was indifferent to his medical needs and the jail administrator (Wright) failed to adequately train or supervise Martin. Regina further alleged ...

Tagged with: Appellate Jurisdiction Qualified Immunity

Where a defendant who pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a minor challenged the imposition of the maximum sentence, the judgment is affirmed because the court’s speculation that the defendant intended to sell or trade the relevant videos did ...

Tagged with: Criminal Maximum Sentence sentencing sexual exploitation

Where a defendant who pleaded guilty to a drug offense challenged his sentence, the judgment is affirmed because the district court did not impose an unreasonable sentence because there was no indication that the court overlooked a relevant factor or ...

Tagged with: Criminal Reasonableness sentencing

Plaintiff, convicted of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, appealed the denial of his motion to vacate his sentence, based on his counsel’s alleged ineffectiveness for failing to advise plaintiff of the consequences of testifying at a pretrial-release revocation hearing ...

Tagged with: Criminal Failure to Advise of Consequences of Testifying ineffective assistance of counsel Motion to Vacate Sentence

Plaintiff filed a habeas petition alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel, who purportedly dissuaded plaintiff from testifying in his own defense in his rape trial, after trial counsel’s cross-examination revealed inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony. The Arkansas state court rejected ...

Tagged with: Advising Not to Testify in Defense Criminal Habeas Petition ineffective assistance of counsel

Defendant appealed her sentence imposed following her guilty plea to fraud offenses. On appeal, defendant challenged her sentence as substantively unreasonable, arguing that the district court erred in considering the loss suffered by the victim of an offense under a ...

Tagged with: Criminal fraud Substantively Unreasonable Sentence Victim's Loss Under Dismissed Count

Defendant pleaded guilty to counts of mail and wire fraud in Iowa as part of his enterprise to steal unemployment insurance benefits from that state along with Illinois and Pennsylvania. At sentencing, defendant argued that his restitution should be limited ...

Tagged with: Criminal fraud Multi-jurisdictional Crime Scope of Restitution

Defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. During intercepted phone calls, defendant suggested two co-conspirators needed to be assaulted for working with law enforcement and paid another co-conspirator to carry out the assaults. The district court imposed a sentencing ...

Tagged with: Conspiracy to Distribute Narcotics Criminal Sentencing Enhancement Use or Threat of Violence

Defendant was convicted of conspiracy and use of interstate facility to commit murder for hire after he allegedly asked a fellow county jail inmate to find someone to murder a witness in a separate murder case in which defendant was ...

Tagged with: Conspiracy to Commit Murder for Hire Criminal Entrapment Instruction

Defendant pleaded guilty to carjacking and related offenses after admitting he stole a car at gunpoint with the owner’s dog in the backseat; defendant later crashed the vehicle, killing the dog. Defendant’s plea agreement included a waiver of challenge to ...

Tagged with: Assessment of Criminal History Points Carjacking Criminal Waiver of Challenge to Conviction and Sentence

Defendant was convicted of robbing a bank with a sawed-off shotgun and shortly thereafter carjacking an individual. On appeal, defendant raised various challenges, including arguments that the district court failed to construe his letters raising various complaints as a motion ...

Tagged with: Armed Robbery Criminal Defendant's In-court Outbursts Forfeiture of Right to Testify