MISSOURI LAWMAKERS HOLD LEGISLATIVE PRIVILEGE

Missouri's lawmakers historically have had constitutional protection that has kept them out of jail during legislative sessions.

Legislative privilege has been afforded lawmakers since Missouri's first state constitution in 1820. With few changes, it remained in the state's succeeding constitutions in 1865 and 1875, and in the most recent constitution that dates from 1945.

The current constitution states: "Senators and representatives shall in all cases except treason, felony or breach of the peace be privileged from arrest during the session of the General Assembly and for 15 days next before commencement and after the termination of each session; and they shall not be questioned for any speech or debate in either house in any other place."

Lawmakers also benefit from a state law that provides for continuances during legislative sessions where they are the parties or the lawyers in civil or criminal cases. The law was last amended in 1943. Prior revisions date back to 1909, according to the Missouri Senate legislative research office.

The constitutional issue surfaced recently after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the Cole County Sheriff's Department had to release a 1997 videotape of then-House Republican leader Mark Richardson of Poplar Bluff being booked for drunken driving. On the tape, a Cole County sheriff's booking officer expresses disgust that Richardson can't be jailed during the legislative session.

Richardson had his young daughter in the car with him when he was arrested in Cole County in April 1997. He eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of first-offense driving while intoxicated and child endangerment.

Article 3 of the Missouri Constitution doesn't prohibit lawmakers from being charged with crimes, just from being detained, constitutional scholars say.

The constitutional privilege has its origins in England, state archivist Kenneth Winn said.

"It was a principle that came into being during the reign of Elizabeth I in England," he said.

Historically, members of parliament were often jailed if their views put them at odds with England's monarchs. "They would be taken off the floor and arrested," said Winn.

That changed under Elizabeth, but the principle was still on shaky ground, he said.

It wasn't until after the English civil war when Charles II came to the throne that the principle became firmly established.

Dr. Peter Bergerson, chairman of the political science department at Southeast Missouri State University, said the constitutional provision in Missouri is designed to ensure that there would be a separate and independent Legislature. The goal wasn't to allow lawmakers to escape punishment for committing a crime such as murder, he said.

Missouri's legislative privilege isn't unusual. "I don't think there is a state that doesn't have that," said Bergerson.