State briefs 5/11/18

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Legislature voted to raise the age suspects are automatically prosecuted as adults from 17 to 18.

The bill, approved by the Senate on Thursday in a 32-1 vote, adds a $3.50 charge to all civil lawsuits to help the juvenile justice system absorb more people.

Youth charged with certain serious crimes could still be tried as adults. Currently, Missouri is one of five states to automatically try 17-year-olds in adult courts.

The bill also would allow youth forced into prostitution to have their court records wiped clean.

The bill next will go to the governor's desk.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House passed a bill requiring high school sex education to include information about sexual harassment and assault.

The proposal, approved Tuesday in an 85-59 vote, would mandate information about consent, sexual violence and sexual harassment be covered in schools teaching sex education. Lessons also would address how to resist unwanted sexual advances.

The mandate only would affect schools already teaching sex education. Individual school districts in Missouri can decide whether to teach sex education.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 58-year-old convicted murderer from northwest Missouri is charged in the stabbing death of a Missouri Air National Guard member in an apparent road rage incident.

Jackson County authorities charged Nicholas Webb, of Pleasant Hill, with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Authorities allege he stabbed 23-year-old Cody Harter of St. Joseph on Saturday after a confrontation along a highway in suburban Kansas City.

The Kansas City Star reports Webb was convicted of second-degree murder in Jackson County in 1981 and was in and out of prison with parole violations. He was last released from prison in July.

As a Guard member, Harter did a tour in Iraq and served in Qatar, and helped with hurricane relief in Houston and Puerto Rico.

Harter's funeral is scheduled for Friday.

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis drug gang enforcer whom prosecutors described as a "stone-cold-killer" has been convicted of three federal crimes.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported jurors found 54-year-old Donald "O.G." Stewart guilty Wednesday of gun crimes related to the 2010 deaths of Michael McGill and Darrion Williams Jr., as well as conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was acquitted on one gun charge linked to the 2009 death of Ronald James.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Reilly told jurors Stewart was a drug dealer and "stone-cold killer" who was recruited by a major drug dealer who was in a war with a rival. Reilly said Stewart sometimes played the role of "shooter" and sometimes planned the attacks.

Stewart's lawyer, John Stobbs, said they were disappointed and would appeal.

-- From wire reports