Missouri Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Warrantless Blood Tests for DUI Suspects in Missouri Case

Cops cannot force suspected drunk drivers to give a blood sample without a warrant, according to a ruling this week in a Missouri case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The decision has broad implications for Fourth Amendment rights, says Tony Rothert, legal direc ... More >>

Family of Murder Victim Cathy Robertson Says Defense is Desperate, Making Up Conspiracies

Earlier this week, we told you about the ongoing court battle centered on a 1990 murder case, with attorneys for accused killer Mark Woodworth now seeking testimony from Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. Since then, Daily RFT has heard from the family of victim Cathy Robertson -- and they are less than ... More >>

Jim The Wonder Dog (Who Predicted the Future!), Old Drum: Missouri's Official Dogs?

Legend has it that Jim the Wonder Dog successfully predicted the sex of unborn babies, correctly chose the winner of seven Kentucky Derbies and the World Series, could comprehend complex human speech -- and so much more. And now, the hard-at-work Missouri legislature is one step closer to making Jim ... More >>

Judge Upholds Ellisville's Red Light Cameras

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thea Sherry is the latest Missouri magistrate to rule in favor of the constitutionality of red light cameras. Judge Sherry dismissed a class-action lawsuit October 30 that challenged Ellisville's ordinance allowing for the controversial cameras. Her ruling marks the fif ... More >>

Missourians File Petition With White House to Secede From Union

Missouri has joined a growing list of states petitioning the federal government for secession in the wake of President Obama's reelection. Residents in at least 20 states have posted petitions on the White House's "We the People" website. "We the People" allows anyone to suggest a policy initiativ ... More >>

ACLU: Proposition A for Local Control of Police is a Huge Mistake. Reject It!

Once upon a time in Missouri, back in the Civil War, our governor's heart belonged to the Confederacy. But St. Louis and its mighty police force leaned Union. So the governor and his legislator pals in Jefferson City created a state board to control us. That system is still in place a century and a ... More >>

St. Louis City Continues to Install Red Light Cameras, Despite Judge's Ruling

See also: St. Louis' Red Light Camera Ordinance Declared VoidSecond St. Louis Judge Rules Against CamerasMotorist Sue City Over Cameras Six months after a judge officially declared the city's red-light camera ordinance void, St. Louis officials and the city's third-party camera vendor, American Tr ... More >>

Springfield Tables Red-Light Cameras Following St. Louis Judgment

​Red-light cameras in Springfield have been turned off for nearly two years following a March 2010 Missouri Supreme Court decision that found the city violated state law in the way it prosecuted people ticketed by the cameras. After weeks of negotiations, Springfield officials were hoping to once ... More >>

"Baby Carlos" Adoption Trial Kicks off Next Week

Some of you have been inquiring about the legal status of Carlos Jamison Moser, the five-year-old boy in Carthage, Missouri, who is the focus of a landmark adoption battle that's been waged over the past four years. We chronicled the story behind Carlos' adoption case in our Oct. 20 feature, The B ... More >>

Opponents of Red-Light Cameras Rally for the Cause

Matt Hay and Ryan Keane at "Stop the Scameras."​Daily RFT stopped by the Off Broadway last night where opponents of red-light cameras were hosting their "Stop the Scameras" fundraiser. State senator Jim Lembke, the emcee of the evening who's fighting his own red-light ticket in St. Louis, was alre ... More >>

Peter Kinder: The American Spectator Profile

We really just wanted an excuse to run this picture again: ladies and gentlemen, we give you Peter Kinder and Tammy Chapman.​Back in the '90s, The American Spectator famously introduced America to an Arkansas woman named Paula Jones -- and it was President Bill Clinton's attempts to fend off J ... More >>

ATS Controls Non-Profit Agencies Advocating Red-Light Cameras in Missouri, Says Lawsuit

mosaferroads.comHazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf launches Missouri Families for Safer Roads in 2009.​A lawsuit filed last week against the City of Hazelwood suggests that camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) secretly funds multiple non-profit "sham" organizations created for the "sole pu ... More >>

St. Louis County Residents Forced to Pay For Recycling After Court Loss

Paying for recycling services is not optional, says the Missouri Appellate Court.​A group of St. Louis County residents has lost another round in its effort to opt out of a recycling service -- and the quarterly fees that go with it.Today's appeals court decision is the latest (and possibly final) ... More >>

$60 Million A.G. Edwards Settlement Gets Appeals Court OK

It's $21 million for the lawyers who steered a lawsuit against A.G. Edwards, alleging unjust enrichment.​A $60 million class-action settlement agreement between A.G. Edwards and a group of account holders who accused the company of a conflict of interest and unjust enrichment has been permitted to ... More >>

LeDale Nathan Jr. Gets 17 Life Sentences For Deadly Home Invasion

LeDale Nathan is "sorry" he killed Gina Stallis (pictured). Pardon us if we don't feel particularly forgiving.​A St. Louis teenager found guilty of murdering a young mother, Gina Stallis, and nearly killing both her cousin and an off-duty police officer in a deadly home invasion in October 2009 wo ... More >>

Murder Conviction Reversed for Anthony Brown, St. Louis Man Guilty of Birthday Party Shooting

FYI: Like the .38 introduced at trial, this is presumably not the actual gun hidden in the victim's sweatpants.​A St. Louis man convicted of second-degree murder after a children's birthday party turned into a crime scene received a reprieve today -- the Missouri Supreme Court struck down his conv ... More >>

Should Missouri Subsidize Lead Company That Poisoned Town and Is Owned by Billionaire?

Photo: Jennifer SilverbergOutside the Doe Run smelter in Herculaneum.​The Herculaneum-based lead company, Doe Run, made news twice this week for two wildly different issues. On Tuesday, a trial began in St. Louis Circuit Court in which sixteen families from Herculaneum are suing Doe Run on claims ... More >>

Is Photo ID Amendment Bigoted Enough to Drive Missouri Republicans to the Polls?

It's me, McLovin. Can I vote now, please?​Frankly, we here at Daily RFT are a little disappointed. We'd expected something juicier.Usually when Missouri's Republican-controlled Legislature rolls out a proposed constitutional amendment, it's something outrageously bigoted. Something that they hope ... More >>

Ferguson Landlord Licensing Program Survives Realtor Challenge

Property for rent in Ferguson? Only if you comply with their licensing program, the appeals court says.​When the city of Ferguson enacted a licensing program for anyone trying to rent out their property in 2006, the St. Louis Association of Realtors promptly sued -- arguing that the court should d ... More >>

St. Stanislaus Trial Begins This Week; Presumably With Heterosexual Judge

stanislauskostka.comSt. Stanislaus' pastor, Marek Bozek, outside the church. ​Okay. I have no idea about Judge Bryan Hettenbach's sexual orientation. I presume the St. Louis Circuit Court judge is heterosexual. Why? Because -- thus far -- the St. Louis archdiocese has made no mention of his sexual ... More >>

Brittney Holmes: Teenager Dies Allegedly From Inhaling Fog Inside Haunted House

Image ViaBrittney Holmes​The Post-Dispatch has the sad conclusion to a story Daily RFT first reported back in May. That's when we told you about a lawsuit filed on behalf of Brittney Holmes, a 15-year-old Belleville girl who allegedly fell into a vegetative state after inhaling fog inside the popu ... More >>

Life Lesson #723: Why You Don't Date the Child of a Cop Who Hates Your Guts

Get her home by 10 p.m. or ... you don't want to know. ​Here at Daily RFT we generally discourage anyone from dating the children of police officers. Best case scenario is the parent will be like the avuncular Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon. He (or she) will condone the relationship (after doing ... More >>

Judge Overturns "Deer-Dogging" Ban For Missouri Hunters

Image viaDeer do it doggystyle​Christmas just came early for the Show-Me State's laziest faction of hunters. A judge in Poplar Bluff recently overturned a state law that prohibits using packs of dogs to drive deer toward hunting stands, a practice known in Ozark-speak as "deer-dogging."On August 5 ... More >>

Guy Who Tortured, Raped and Killed Woman On Tape Will Be Executed, Supreme Court Rules

Image viaPolice found a copy of "Natural Born Killers" in Davis' house. ​Most Missouri Supreme Court opinions are snoozers, but the one issued Tuesday on the Richard Davis case has to be one of the most riveting -- and horrifying -- in recent memory. Our state's high court is upholding the death s ... More >>

Ballot Issue for Electing Judges Didn't (or Did) Get Enough Signatures. Is There an Election Judge in the House?

​Opponents of a petition drive that would ask Missouri voters to require that all state judges be elected to the bench say that the effort doesn't have enough signatures to land on the November ballot. Yesterday Ken Morley with Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts told St. Louis Public Radio ... More >>

Mother Sues Soulard Haunted House; Claims Daughter Poisoned By Artificial Fog

Thrill seekers gather outside The Darkness in October 2008.​A fifteen-year-old from Belleville got the fright of her life last Halloween at the popular Soulard haunted house, The Darkness. Only the scare didn't come from the advanced animatronics and dozens of costumed goons that have made the St. ... More >>

St. Louis Police Board Ordered to Pay Attorney Fees and Fine over World Series Ticket Scandal

​St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Philip Heagney today ordered that the St. Louis Police Board of Commissioners pay a civil fine for violating the state's Sunshine Law.The judge also ordered the board to pay the attorney fees of John Chasnoff, a University City resident who in 2007 sued the police bo ... More >>

Missouri Senate Passes Bill to Keep Some Non-Violent Offenders from Prison

​Perhaps senator Matt Bartle (R - Kansas City) is attempting to redeem himself after being voted "Ass Clown of the Week" back in February. Back then Daily RFT readers didn't care much for Bartle's bill to outlaw nudity at Missouri strip clubs. That said, I would venture to guess that most our read ... More >>

World Series Ticket Scandal: Judge Tells Cops to Quit Breaking the Law

​The Cards-Astros home-opener wasn't the only shutout in town yesterday. Three years after improprieties involving city cops and 2006 World Series tickets confiscated from scalpers came to light, a St. Louis judge last night issued a final ruling in the related Sunshine Law case against ... More >>

Plaintiffs Seek Class-Action Lawsuit Against St. Louis Red-Light Cameras

Lawsuit is latest to highlight cracks in the St. Louis law.​Daily RFT yesterday spoke with St. Louis attorney Russell Watters. In December Watters filed a lawsuit on behalf of three people -- Alexa Smith and Timothy and Belle Keane -- who've received red-light camera tickets in St. Louis. The suit ... More >>

Missouri Attorney General Calls for Execution of Man Linked to Larry Flynt Shooting

Larry Flynt has been in a wheelchair since the 1978 shooting.​Attorney General Chris Koster yesterday called on the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates for two convicted murderers. The first, Joseph Franklin, was convicted in 1997 for the shooting death twenty years earlier of a man out ... More >>

What Do You Call a Sex Offender Passing Out Candy w/in 1000 ft. of a School on Halloween?

​In Missouri you call him well within his rights -- that is, if he (or she) was convicted and sentenced before two relatively recent residency laws went into effect.Today the Missouri Supreme Court handed down two rulings relating to where registered sex offenders may live in the state and how the ... More >>

Bada-Bing! St. Louis Graphic Design Firm Sues Microsoft Over Trademark

St. Louis-based design shop, Bing!, last week filed suit against Microsoft over the software giant's use of the name Bing for its new search engine. The suit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court alleges "trademark infringement, unfair competition, and tortious interference with business expectancy." www ... More >>

Meet the Man Who Won His Trial vs. Red-Light Cameras in St. Louis

Gant Bloom​A Daily RFT post last week about a St. Louis judge fighting his ticket from a red-light camera generated a great response from reader Gant Bloom. His comment? "I won my red light ticket."  Yes, earlier this year the 38-year-old Bloom -- an IT professional at the Washington Universi ... More >>

Should Drunks Be Allowed to Carry Guns?

danielhg.blogspot.comThe second amendment just as the founding fathers envisioned​That's the question that will soon be pondered by the Missouri Supreme Court.Missouri's highest court decided to hear the appeal of John L. Richard, a Mississippi County man who, after his wife left him in 2006, popp ... More >>

State Supreme Court Moves to Suspend Law License of Disgraced State Rep. Steve Brown

The state's highest court today began formal disciplinary proceedings against former state representative Steve Brown. Brown, 42, stands to have his law license suspended following his guilty plea to a federal conspiracy charge.www.brownformissouri.comBrown may never campaign again - for himself or ... More >>

Do They Have A Time Machine?

Last time we checked in on the saga of the San Luis Apartments in the Central West End, a St. Louis circuit court judge had just ruled that the Archdiocese could demolish the building to construct a parking lot and that local preservationist groups had no right to stop them.Seems like a pretty clear ... More >>

Red Alert: Everything they really don't want you to know about those pesky traffic-light cameras

Memo Time

The Legacy of Creg Williams

Cop Secret

Good luck finding out what St. Louis cops get in exchange for public money

Dirty Little Secrets

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department keeps a tight lid on internal affairs. Even if it means breaking the law.

Two-Steppin'

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a Missouri cop could justifiably dance around Miranda

Venue's on the Menu

For lawyers trying to take a bite of Doe Run, St. Louis is the place to be

Wrecking Brawl

For eight years, the city has kept Mark Finney from replacing the historic Syndicate Trust Building with a parking garage. He says, "Buy it or get the hell out of the way." It's time to put up or shut up.

The Boys from Boonville

In 1963, a group of African-American runaways and truants was sent to a rural reform school. Then the nightmare began.

The Dogs Bark, The Caravan Moves On

St. Louis comings and goings in anno Domini 1999

IS JOHN ASHCROFT A RACIST, OR DOES HE JUST PLAY ONE ON TV?

Cock-and-Bull Story

Legislators rush to "clarify" -- read "weaken" -- Proposition A, recently passed by Missouri citizens to protect animals from being used in cruel contests

Bench Press