Candidate disputes residency allegations

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- Carter County Prosecuting Attorney Rocky Kingree filed a petition Wednesday in a Wayne County court disputing allegations he is not qualified to become Division II associate circuit judge in Butler County.

Kingree filed his petition in response to one filed Aug. 26 on behalf of Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth.

That petition was filed against Kingree, as well as Butler County Clerk Tonyi Deffendall, in an attempt to have Kingree removed from the general election ballot.

Kingree, a resident of Ellsinore, Missouri, listed his law office in Van Buren, Missouri, when he filed his declaration of candidacy March 25.

He was the lone Republican on the ballot for the Aug. 5 primary election.

In his petition, Kingree admits to some of the allegations made in Bloodworth's petition, including that his business address is a post office box, and he has no other mailing addresses.

Allegations Kingree denied included that he has "never been a resident of Butler County for a period of one year" and that he has never been a registered voter in Butler County.

In supporting his Butler County residency, Kingree cited his father, Michael Kingree, being a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper in the Butler County zone.

Per patrol policy, "a trooper must live in the zone that he is assigned to," said Kingree, who indicated he grew up on a Butler County farm.

Kingree said he did not stop being a resident after childhood, but also attended Three Rivers Community College and "contrary to Bloodworth's statements, was a registered voter and voted in Butler County."

Kingree said he "spends a tremendous amount of time" in Butler County, including living there, shopping, dining, fishing, hunting and more.

Two years ago, Kingree said, he ran in a nonpartisan race for the Three Rivers College board of trustees, and more than 60 percent of the Butler County citizens voted for him instead of the incumbent.

Kingree lost that election to serve a subdistrict, which was comprised of Carter County and portions of Butler, Ripley, Wayne and Reynolds counties.

Kingree said the home where he lives does not have an address and does not receive mail.

Kingree said he has a "policy not to release home information as a member of law enforcement, especially considering that two Carter County law enforcement officers, in less than 10 years, have died by being shot at their home and considering there is information that the former Carter County sheriff, who is in federal prison, attempted to hire a person to kill law enforcement officers that were investigating him."

In Bloodworth's petition, Kingree said, he cited the "purpose of residency statutes is to ensure that governmental officials are sufficiently connected to their constituents to serve them with sensitivity and understanding."

Kingree said there is "absolutely no question" he is "sufficiently connected."