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Missouri judges have overturned 2 murder convictions in recent weeks. Why did the AG fight freedom?ST. LOUIS — A man who was on the verge of walking out of prison this week after a judge found evidence of “actual innocence" and overturned his murder conviction now faces a fresh legal hurdle. The person blocking Christopher Dunn's freedom is Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is fresh off an unsuccessful battle to keep another woman whose murder conviction was reversed imprisoned...
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Missouri lawsuits allege abuse by Catholic priests, nuns. Archdiocese leader in Omaha among themST. LOUIS — Sixty people allege in new lawsuits filed in Missouri that they were abused as children by dozens of Catholic priests, nuns and others, and the man who now leads the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, is among the accused. Five separate lawsuits seeking unspecified damages were filed this week in St. Louis and neighboring counties. All told, the lawsuits name 56 alleged abusers. The suits seek unspecified damages...
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Workers at GM seat supplier in Missouri reach tentative agreement, end strikeThe union representing workers, a Lear Corp. plant in Missouri that makes seats for General Motors vehicles said Thursday it reached a tentative agreement with the company, ending a strike that was in its fourth day. About 480 workers at Lear Corp. in Wentzville who walked out at midnight Sunday are back at work. They are represented by United Auto Workers union...
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Days before a Biden rule against anti-LGBTQ+ bias takes effect, judges are narrowing its reachTOPEKA, Kan. — New federal court rulings are narrowing the Biden administration's enforcement of a rule for protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and allowing critics to limit it even further school by school. A federal judge in Missouri blocked enforcement of the rule in six additional states, bringing the total to 21. ...
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Four detainees stabbed during altercation at jail in downtown St. LouisST. LOUIS — Four detainees at a downtown St. Louis jail were injured when they were stabbed during a fight — the latest of several instances of violence at the jail. A guard sent out a distress call about a disturbance around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday at the City Justice Center, spokesman for the St. Louis Department of Public Safety, Monte Chambers, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The injured detainees were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately made available...
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Missouri Supreme Court halts release of man with overturned conviction as he was about to go free (7/25/24)ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Supreme Court halted the immediate release Wednesday of a man whose murder conviction was overturned — just as the man was about to walk free. A St. Louis Circuit Court judge had ordered Christopher Dunn, now 52, to be released by 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday and threatened the prison warden with contempt if Dunn remained imprisoned. But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey has been fighting Dunn's release...
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Missouri prison ignores court order to free wrongfully convicted inmate for second time in weeks (7/24/24)ST. LOUIS — For the second time in weeks, a Missouri prison has ignored a court order to release an inmate whose murder conviction was overturned. Just as in the case of Sandra Hemme, actions by the state's attorney general are keeping Christopher Dunn locked up...
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Missouri judge overturns murder conviction of man imprisoned for more than 30 years (7/23/24)ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who has spent more than 30 years in prison for a killing he has long contended he didn’t commit. The ruling is likely to free Dunn from prison, but it wasn’t immediately clear when that would happen. He has been serving a sentence of life without parole. ...
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Missouri woman who served 43 years in prison free after murder conviction overturned (7/22/24)CHILLICOTHE — A woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years of a life sentence was released Friday, despite attempts in the last month by Missouri’s attorney general to keep her behind bars. ...
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Missouri high court clears way for woman's release after 43 years in prison (7/19/24)CHILLICOTHE — The Missouri Supreme Court has cleared the way for the release of a Missouri woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, but she still remained in custody as of Thursday evening. ...
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2 former Missouri police officers accused of federal civil rights violations (7/11/24)ST. LOUIS — Two former police officers in a small St. Louis suburb are facing a federal indictment alleging that a man was beaten with a police baton while handcuffed. Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced the indictment accusing Samuel Davis and Michael Hill of federal civil rights violations. Both formerly worked as officers in Northwoods, Missouri, a town of about 4,200 residents...
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Appeals court orders release of woman whose murder conviction was reversed after 43 years in prison (7/10/24)KANSAS CITY — An appellate court has ordered the release of a Missouri woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, but the state attorney general is still trying to keep her behind bars as the case is reviewed. Monday's ruling by a panel of appeals court judges comes after a judge ruled that Sandra Hemme's attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence" of “actual innocence." Judge Ryan Horsman said on June 14 that she must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors decide to retry her.. ...
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Awwww! Four endangered American red wolf pups 'thriving' since birth at Missouri wildlife reserve (7/10/24)ST. LOUIS — The world's most endangered wolf species got a big boost at a Missouri wildlife reserve — four little puppies born this spring. The April 26 birth of a female American red wolf pup named Otter was followed by a litter of three other pups — Molly and her brothers Finn and Obi — on May 4, the St. ...
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Missouri man accused of imprisoning and torturing a woman for weeks indicted for murder (7/10/24)A Missouri man accused of keeping a woman hidden in his basement while repeatedly sexually assaulting her was indicted Tuesday for allegedly murdering another woman. Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Timothy M. Haslett was charged with murder in connection with 36-year-old Jaynie Crosdale’s death, adding that she was killed “by an act of homicidal violence.” He said her remains showed impact wounds consistent with a gunshot...
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard pregnant soon after release from prison for conspiring to kill abusive mother (7/10/24)Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who recruited her former boyfriend to kill her mother after years of being forced to pretend she was gravely ill, announced Tuesday that she is pregnant and hopes to give her child everything she lacked growing up. Blanchard said in a YouTube video that the baby is due in January, which will be just a little over a year after she was freed from a women's prison northeast of Kansas City, Missouri...
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Missouri fire official dies when boat he was in capsizes during water rescue (7/9/24)COLUMBIA — An assistant fire chief in central Missouri died early Monday when the boat he was in capsized during a water rescue in a flash flood. The Boone County Fire Protection District said Matthew Tobben and another firefighter had just rescued two people from flooded Bear Creek in Columbia when the boat overturned. ...
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Hearing set to determine if Missouri death row inmate innocent; execution is month later (7/3/24)ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on Tuesday set an Aug. 21 date for a hearing to determine if Marcellus Williams is innocent of the murder that landed him on death row — a hearing that comes just a little over a month before Williams is scheduled to die. ...
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Former Missouri prison guards plead not guilty to murder in death of Black man (7/2/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Four former Missouri guards have pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of a Black man in prison, and a fifth has pleaded not guilty to accessory to involuntary manslaughter. Othel Moore Jr., 38, died on Dec. 8 in the Jefferson City Correctional Center. A criminal complaint filed Friday alleged that the guards pepper-sprayed Moore, placed a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate...
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Gov. Parson cuts $1 billion from state budget approved by lawmakers (7/1/24)More than 170 items were struck from the Missouri state budget Friday, June 28, as Gov. Mike Parson cut $1 billion from the spending plan passed this year by lawmakers. In a statement explaining his cuts, Parson said he vetoed earmarked items he believes were loaded into the budget for special projects and organizations without considering the future financial stability of the state. ...
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Search continues for identity of Mississippi River drowning victim (7/1/24)NEW MADRID — The New Madrid County Sheriff’s Department has released photos of a drowning victim’s tattoos in hopes of identifying the man. According to interim Sheriff Ronnie Adams, an autopsy was conducted Friday, June 28, on the body that was found floating in the Mississippi River on Wednesday, June 26, near Marsh Landing, approximately 8 miles east of Portageville. ...
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Missouri governor says new public aid plan in the works for Chiefs, Royals stadiums (6/28/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday that he expects the state to put together an aid plan by the end of the year to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from being lured across state lines to new stadiums in Kansas. Missouri's renewed efforts come after Kansas approved a plan last week that would finance up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums for the professional football and baseball teams...
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Former staffers at Missouri Christian boarding school face civil lawsuit alleging abuse of students (6/27/24)JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Yet another civil lawsuit filed Wednesday against a Missouri Christian boarding school by a former student accuses staffers of forced child labor, physical abuse and tactics aimed at hiding mistreatment from authorities. The lawsuit, filed in Missouri's Western U.S. District Court, alleges fraud and negligence by five former employees of the now-closed Agape Boarding School. ...
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Former staffers at Missouri Christian boarding school face civil lawsuit alleging abuse of students (6/27/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Yet another civil lawsuit filed Wednesday against a Missouri Christian boarding school by a former student accuses staffers of forced child labor, physical abuse and tactics aimed at hiding mistreatment from authorities. The lawsuit, filed in Missouri’s Western U.S. District Court, alleges fraud and negligence by five former employees of the now-closed Agape Boarding School...