RICHARDSON: COURT WON'T OUST MORIARTY

State Rep. Mark Richardson doubts the Missouri Supreme Court will remove Secretary of State Judith Moriarty from office.

The state House has voted three articles of impeachment against Moriarty. The next step is a trial before the Supreme Court.

When the Supreme Court applies the legal test of "beyond a reasonable doubt" to the Moriarty case, it won't remove her from office, Richardson said.

Richardson, one of five members serving on a special House impeachment panel, said he agreed with the probable-cause findings on three impeachment articles.

But the Poplar Bluff Republican said the role of the House in the impeachment process is much like the role of a grand jury or a judge in a preliminary hearing.

"We found probable cause that she was guilty of misconduct," he said.

But when the Supreme Court tries the issue it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that she is guilty of misconduct.

"It must be much more certain and provide a much higher standard of proof than we go by," Richardson said.

It becomes more difficult to convict when a heavier burden of proof is used, he said.

Richardson voted for the impeachment articles that passed and against the three that failed on the House floor Thursday.

But he stressed had the standard of proof been higher, he wouldn't have voted for any of them.

"It was a very close call in my opinion," Richardson said.

The first article of impeachment was rejected by the House and stated that Moriarty was guilty of criminal conduct.

It was the only article the committee proposed alleging criminal misconduct.

The next three were approved, but found her guilty of misconduct, rather than criminal conduct, for securing signatures after the deadline on her son's filing form for state representative.

Those articles all received strong support from the House with about 103 voting in favor of two and 104 in favor of the other, far more than the 82 needed for passage.

Two other counts were rejected that related to misconduct on instructing forms to be filed on March 29, the filing deadline.

Richardson said the three articles sent to the Supreme Court basically indicate Moriarty sought signatures in an improper way, not that she did anything illegal or fraudulent.

"She did something that could have been done appropriately, but did it in an inappropriate way," Richardson said. "That is the only issue that goes to the Supreme Court and that is a razor-thin case."

In all, the committee considered 10 impeachment articles but eliminated four.

Those four charged that Moriarty should be removed from office because of general incompetency, mismanagement, she was found guilty in a criminal case, and she for criminal conduct and mismanagement by signing her son's campaign report.

No date has been set for when the supreme court will hear the impeachment case. The seven member court will serve as judge and jury, and five votes are needed for Moriarty to be removed.

Many Republicans and some Democrats advocated waiting until after Moriarty's court proceedings were over before proceeding with the impeachment process.

A vote to delay an impeachment vote until then failed by a vote of 75 to 74 on Thursday.

Gov. Mel Carnahan, who called on Moriarty to resign and then called the special session on impeachment after she refused to do so, got a short-term victory from Thursday's vote, Richardson said.

But unless criminal proceedings lead to her ouster by a court, Richardson said the governor may have a long-range defeat.

Richardson believes some evidence surfaced during the committee's hearings that Moriarty's attorneys might be able to use to secure a new trial for her on her misdemeanor conviction in Cole County Circuit Court last month.

If that conviction stands, once Moriarty is sentenced, state law requires her to resign from office.

However, her attorneys argue that statute isn't legal.