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Dwight Scroggins

Dec 10, 2009

Bar president names task force to tackle criminal justice funding

Missouri Bar President Skip Walther finalized a task force this week that will ponder solutions to ongoing resource problems for all parts of the criminal justice system. Two past bar presidents, several prosecutors and public defenders and one former lawmaker make up the Criminal Justice Task Force. The group will be expected to make a […]

Dec 8, 2009

State high court offers new solution on defender cases

The Missouri Supreme Court struck down rules the Missouri Public Defender Commission enacted in 2008 that allow public defenders to refuse certain types of cases.
But, as public defenders read the decision, opinion author Judge Michael A. Wolff shoved open the door to a new option. Public defender offices can't refuse some cases and take others, but particularly burdened offices might be a[...]

Nov 29, 2009

Flap grows over defender caseload study

At the urging of a new Missouri Bar governor, the Missouri State Public Defender System may try to recoup some of the $70,000 the system raised to pay for a comprehensive study of its caseload problems. The governor, Marie Kenyon, criticized the report as a useless collection of anecdotes that portrayed public defenders as whining […]

Nov 19, 2009

Prosecutors seek reform of justice system

A group of Missouri prosecutors urged bar officials to conduct a review of the state’s entire criminal justice system – one that doesn’t focus just on public defenders. In a press release sent Thursday, Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said that if there is “any crisis” in the justice system, the solution must involve “all […]

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