A detainee in the Leavenworth County Jail was sentenced to 19 months in prison for falsely accusing a deputy of trading sex for a cell phone.
In a news release, County Attorney Todd Thompson said William Dickerson was sentenced for falsely reporting a crime of criminal sodomy.
Thompson says Dickerson was found will a cell phone in the county jail. When questioned about the phone, Dickerson claimed he was given permission by a deputy to keep the phone if he performed an oral sex act on the deputy.
The deputy denied the claim, and Thompson says video surveillance showed only incidental contact between the pair with no sexual activity.
Dickerson’s sentence includes 12 months of post-release supervision once he serves his prison sentence.
A single-vehicle rollover crash in Andrew county sent an 87-year-old St Joe man to the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says William Scott lost control of his vehicle along U.S. Highway 169 two miles north of St Joseph at 3:35 p.m.
The Ford Escape left the highway, hit a couple of mailboxes and a tree before it overturned. Mr. Scott was transported to Mosaic Life Care with moderate injuries.
A crash in Atchison County, Missouri Wednesday morning sent two drivers to the hospital.
Shortly after 8:30 Wednesday morning, a 16-year-old Westboro girl crossed U.S. 59 Highway on Route C. Her car was hit by a van on U.S. 59.
Marley Loucks and the other driver, Michael Haynes of Macedonia, Iowa, were transported to the Shenandoah, Iowa Medical Center for treatment of moderate injuries, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report,.
Gasoline prices continue to rise. The auto club AAA reports the national average price for a gallon of regular Thursday morning was just over $2.26/gallon. That’s up more than two cents on the day, more than six cents higher than a week ago, and more than 15 cents higher than a month ago.
At least one retail chain in St Joseph has raised prices to $2.09 per gallon. Several other outlets were priced at $1.95 to $1.99 per gallon Wednesday morning.
Across Missouri, the average price was just over $2.03/gallon, an increase of nearly four cents on the day and 12 cents higher than a month ago. In Kansas the average was a little higher, at $2.07 per gallon.
According to AAA, prices are rising in part due to more expensive crude oil costs brought about by wildfires in Canada and supply disruptions in other oil-producing countries. But gasoline demand regularly increases leading into the summer driving season. In a weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gasoline demand hit its highest mark of the year at 9.66 million barrels per day, which was the highest number since August and 4.4 percent higher than the same period last year.
The nation’s top five most expensive states for gasoline are: California ($2.80), Hawaii ($2.67), Washington ($2.55), Alaska ($2.52) and Nevada ($2.48).
The nation’s top five least expensive states are: Arkansas ($1.99), Texas ($1.99), Louisiana ($2.00), Mississippi ($2.00) and Oklahoma ($2.00).
The St. Joseph Police Department has confirmed that 18-year-old Skyler Powell was the teen found dead Wednesday morning in a parking lot.
Few details surrounding the investigation into Powell’s death are being released at this point. Commander Eric Protzman said Powell recently graduated from Benton High School.
Officers responded to the block of 2300 Colhoun on a report of shots fired early Wednesday morning. Officers found Powell in the parking lot in the 2200 block of Frederick with a gunshot wound.
Protzman said the case is still under investigation but that detectives do have a person of interest in the case. He said more information will be released when available.
Anyone with information is asked to call the tips hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.
Roy Miller
A St. Joseph man has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally beating a one-year-old boy to death in an ill-fated attempt to get the baby to stop crying. After a bench trial in April, Judge Randall Jackson found Roy Miller guilty of child abuse resulting in death. On Wednesday Judge Jackson ordered Miller to serve a life term.
After a trial, Judge Jackson ruled that Mr Miller recklessly caused serious physical injury by hitting the child in an attempt to get the child to stop crying. Young Carter Lizar died after an incident inside a mobile home on Monterey Street in August of 2015.
Carter’s mother, Sasha Lizar pleaded guilty last year to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to serve seven years in prison. Carter died at Children’s Mercy Hospital a few days later on his first birthday.
Before being sentenced, Mr. Miller and his public defender asserted that the defendant did nothing on purpose to harm the youngster , that it was “a terrible accident.”
Miller took the witness stand, saying he “did not him him, ” “did not beat his head on anything,” and that he “did nothing to harm that child on purpose.”
Defense lawyer H. Mitchel Jenkins asked the judge to impose the minimum, ten-year prison sentence. Jenkins said his client believed he was trying to help by watching the child. He pointed out that Mr. Miller is 61 years old and in failing health.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kate Schaefer reminded the judge that the defendant agreed to babysit while the child’s mother went to Kansas City to party. When she returned, she brought methamphetamine and the pair took the drug. Then, Ms Schaefer says the mother left again.
Schaefer said in his effort to get the baby to stop crying, Mr Miller “shut this baby up permanently,” and “deserves no leniency.” Schafer said Miller deserved the maximum term of life in prison.
Judge Jackson agreed.
“If anyone has any notions that drug crimes are victimless crimes, this case should dispel that notion,” Judge Jackson said. “While under the influence of methamphetamine, you killed a helpless baby. There is only one appropriate sentence.”
Trailer fire at Southwest State Route U. Photo by Nadia Thacker.
The St. Joseph Fire Department said a trailer that caught on fire and closed Route U Wednesday afternoon is a complete loss.
Around 2 p.m. firefighters responded to the 2700 block of Southwest State Route U in the Lake Contrary area to a report of a trailer fully engulfed. No one was injured, however officials with the fire department said the structure was deemed a complete loss.
While crews were on scene State Route U was shut down in both directions in the area for firefighters to access the structure.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
(Missourinet) – A loophole in Missouri’s drunk driving laws was not fixed by the state legislature during its session that ended Friday, putting thousands of DUI cases in jeopardy. That’s according to Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd. He said a typo means Missouri law requires that breathalyzers be calibrated to three different levels: 0.10 percent, 0.08 percent or 0.04 percent.
“The word ‘and’ replaced the word ‘or,’ in choosing those three alcohol-based substances to calibrate this equipment,” said Zahnd. “Because of that, during a 15-month period, the Missouri Supreme Court has now ruled that all three of those substances had to be used.”
The word “and” was in effect from December 30, 2012 to April 2014, impacting about 30,000 cases.
The Missouri Supreme Court’s decision included instruction on how state lawmakers should correct the error.
“Sadly, the legislature failed to follow that roadmap and to fix this problem. As a result, it’s very likely that thousands of drunk drivers will go free,” said Zahnd. “We’re not just talking about traditional DWI cases, which are bad enough in themselves. We’re talking about DWI-facilitated assaults and manslaughter cases. Cases literally where people have been seriously injured or even died.”
Zahnd says Governor Jay Nixon could call a special session or ask the Legislature to pass a measure during its veto session in September that would reverse the mistake. Hundreds of cases scheduled for trial before September could be thrown out on that technicality.
(Missourinet) – The state legislature began too late in the session that ended Friday considering legislation to address a spike in infant deaths related to certain types of baby bumpers, for it to pass.
A recent study at Washington University found that deaths related to bumpers tripled from 2006 through 2012, often because a baby’s face presses against one and he or she suffocates. Some states have begun banning baby bumpers that a child could not breath through when pressed up against it.
The issue is one Representative Elijah Haahr (R-Springfield) attempted to address in the final weeks of the session.
“Both the American Institute of Health and the Pediatric Institute have recommended that states ban non-breathable bumpers,” Haahr told Missourinet.
In the final weeks of the session, he looked for pieces of legislation to add the proposed ban to – not the common route for legislation that generally is vetted in each chamber’s committee process. The language was amended to one, but it wasn’t passed before the session ended.
Haahr says he will try again next year to propose a civil penalty of $100-500 for making or selling a non-breathable bumper in Missouri. He says the proposal is as much an attempt to draw people’s attention to the issue – especially parents who might buy or use a non-breathable bumper without knowing or considering whether it poses a danger.
“Essentially we’re just trying to put it out there that these are very dangerous for babies around the state,” said Haahr.
A bill to propose a baby bumper ban was filed January 1 by Representative Jeanne Kirkton (D-Webster Groves), but it did not receive a committee hearing – typically one of the first steps in a bill’s consideration.
A detainee in the Leavenworth County Jail was sentenced to 19 months in prison for falsely accusing a deputy of trading sex for a cell phone.
