A Kansas City, Mo., man and woman have been convicted by a federal trial jury of their roles in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and of illegally possessing firearms and ammunition.

Robin M. Sims, also known as Robin Hood, 51, and Amy E. Jones, 52, both of Kansas City, were found guilty on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, of participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin between June 2012 and June 2013 and of aiding and abetting one another to distribute heroin. In addition, Sims was convicted of five counts of distributing heroin and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Jones was also convicted of being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm.

Evidence introduced during the trial included a series of undercover and controlled purchases of heroin from Sims, often utilizing a confidential informant. Police officers conducted three searches at two separate residences shared by Sims and Jones and seized heroin and firearms.

On Aug. 30, 2012, during an investigation, Kansas City police officers searched a residence shared by Sims and Jones and found a Colt .32-caliber pistol under the mattress of a bed.

On Nov. 12, 2012, officers executed a search warrant at the residence shared by Sims and Jones and discovered heroin wrapped in a lottery ticket and a digital scale in the kitchen.

On June 20, 2013, officers executed a search warrant at the residence shared by Sims and Jones. When officers entered the residence, Sims placed a plastic baggie that contained what appeared to be heroin in his mouth and swallowed it. Officers discovered a loaded Davis Industries .22-caliber revolver under a bed.

Under federal statutes, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Sims has a prior felony conviction for second degree murder, two prior felony convictions for drug trafficking, two prior felony convictions for possessing a controlled substance and a prior felony conviction for distributing, delivering and producing a controlled substance.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about an hour before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple, ending a trial that began Monday, May 11, 2015.

Under federal statutes, Sims is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. Jones is subject to a sentence of up to 50 years in federal prison without parole. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – Even with plenty of issues and three days left, Democrats in the state Senate say the session is effectively finished after Republicans forced a so-called “right to work” measure through their chamber.

Senate Democrats stalled for more than eight hours a vote on a bill to keep the paying of union dues from being a condition of employment, before Republican leadership used a motion called a “previous question” to force a vote and pass the bill to the House. Such a move is considered an insult in a chamber where all members expect to be allowed to speak as long as they like.

After that, Senate Democrats are threatening to make moving bills in the Senate as difficult as possible, even on a bill that means more than 3-billion federal dollars for Medicaid.

“As far as we were concerned, that was going to be the end of any policy discussion at this point,” said Senator Scott Sifton (D-Affton). “The route for [the Federal Reimbursement Allowance bill] is a special session.”

Right to work sponsor, Senator Dan Brown (R-Rolla), thinks Democrats will back down from that position.

“What if in the special session, somebody in our caucus says, ‘I’m not going to pass FRA tax? Medicaid goes away in Missouri, quite frankly,” Brown told reporters after the Senate adjourned Tuesday. “That is a threat that [Sifton] needs to think about.”

The session ends at 6 p.m. Friday.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – The state House has voted to overturn Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) veto of a bill that would shorten the length of time Missourians can receive unemployment benefits, but the question might not even be considered in the Senate in the final three days of the session.

The Republican-controlled House mustered just enough votes to overturn the veto of a bill that would link the length of time workers can get unemployment benefits to the unemployment rate, shortening it to as few as 13 weeks if that rate stays below 6-percent. The current time period is 20 weeks. The national standard is 26.

Representative Margo McNeil (D-Florissant) said the measure will only hurt people who need help.

“We’re going to vote to be the absolute lowest state in the nation? The absolute stingiest state in the nation, with this override?” McNeil asked fellow representatives during debate, Tuesday. “Where is our humanity?”

Representative Keith English (I-Florissant) said the bill would hurt him, his family, and anyone who works a seasonal job.

“January 1 starts unemployment, Mr. Speaker, so the second week in April is the thirteenth week,” English told his fellows. “So we might get a job at Labadie Powerhouse, Meramec Powerhouse, somewhere where we’ve got about a 20- to 30-week shutdown, but then what happens is as the work starts to come down we get laid off. Well, if we used our 13-weeks of unemployment, Mr. Speaker, guess what, when we get laid off we go down to the bottom of the list, and there’s no work coming around the holidays … when we cut from 20 to 13 weeks there is no money left, so now what happens? We go on [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program].”

Republicans say shortening the length of time people can receive benefits reduces the amount employers have to pay into it. This bill would also make it more difficult for a former employee who is getting a severance package to receive unemployment, and would increase the amount the state could keep in its unemployment insurance trust fund.

Backers say the state has had to borrow federal money when that fund has run dry. Sponsor Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) says that practice has hurt Missouri businesses.

“It makes employers less competitive across state lines to states that have better unemployment trust funds that work right,” said Fitzpatrick. “It just makes sense to make this thing solvent. It makes no sense to leave it the way it is right now.”

It is now up to the Senate whether to vote to override Nixon’s veto, but after Republican leadership in that chamber forced a vote on a so-called “Right to Work” bill, Democrats in that chamber say they will make it as difficult as possible to move any legislation in the final three days of the session.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet)- The state legislature has sent a message to those involved in youth sports in Missouri to leave those sports’ officials alone.

It has approved a resolution calling on school districts; little league programs; high school, college, and recreational programs; and law enforcement and prosecutors, to “do all they can to put an end to the increased threats and assaults on sports officials and to prosecute such criminal acts to the full extent of the law.”

Several of the House members who spoke about the bill have themselves officiated sports, including Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City).

“I see it in kindergarten and first grade games sometimes,” Barnes said during debate. “Every once in a while we get there where you see a parent on the other side berating a child or giving someone a hard time. I refereed some basketball games this winter for a kindergarten team and I got some serious razzing by parents who didn’t understand why I didn’t call a foul. For kindergarteners!”

Representative Paul Fitzwater (R-Potosi) has officiated high school and college basketball. He said one thing officials hate to do is throw anyone out.

“But that’s happened before. When it gets personal sometimes, you have to do that,” said Fitzwater. “I’ve had to remove some coaches before and I’ve had to remove some fans … I was refereeing a big ball game, packed house down in Van Buren one night, and we [threw] out a state highway patrolman in uniform.”

The measure passed by the legislature, SCR 17, doesn’t change or create a law.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The former president of the union representing Jackson County Department of Corrections employees was sentenced in federal court Monday for a wire fraud scheme in which he embezzled more than $138,000 from the union local.

Jesse E. Morgan, 39, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to 21 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Morgan to pay $138,011 in restitution to the union.

Morgan, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Oct. 7, 2014, was president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1707 from 2008 through Oct. 20, 2012.

Morgan admitted that he engaged in a wire fraud scheme during most of his tenure as president, from November 2008 through Oct. 22, 2012, to steal from AFSCME Local 1707. Morgan issued checks from Local 1707 to third parties for his benefit or to himself; made electronic transfers from Local 1707 bank accounts to pay personal expenses; made unauthorized ATM withdrawals from Local 1707 bank accounts; and made unauthorized counter withdrawals from Local 1707 checking and savings accounts.

By Alisa Nelson (Missourinet) – Hundreds of union workers showed up at the capitol Monday to oppose a so-called “Right to Work” bill that is expected to move quickly in this final week of the legislative session.

Union workers packed the hallway outside the room where a Senate committee held a hearing on the so-called “Right to Work” legislation.
Testimony was emotional for some, including for Terry Nelson with the Carpenters District Council in the St. Louis region. He said government is trying to turn their contractors into adversaries.

“I live and die with them every day,” said Nelson. “If you take the opportunity away from me and my union to negotiate reasonable living wage plus benefits, I say shame on you!”

Nelson said it’s not the government’s responsibility to get involved in their business relationships. “Do not put shackles on the arms of the unions by not allowing us to do what we do best, and that’s to have a partnership with the people that we survive with.”

Other union workers also argued that the bill would mean lower wages. House bill sponsor Eric Burlison (R-Springfield) argued that’s not true.

“Opposition will say that people make less money in states that provide ‘right to work,’” said Burlison. “The truth is, we’ve always made less money.”

Burlison said Missouri must become a “Right to Work” state if it is going to regain a competitive standing in the United States and globally.

“It will encourage job growth, make unions stronger for their members and promote individual freedom for workers across our great state,” argued Burlison.

The bill would bar the collection of fees from non-union members.

The House passed Burlison’s right to work proposal earlier this session. The Senate is expected to take up the issue Tuesday.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – A bill has gone to Governor Nixon that would do a number of things for victims of sexual abuse in Missouri.

One provision in the plan would allow, for the first time, victims of sexual assault to seek orders of protection against their attackers.

Colleen Coble, Chief Executive Officer with the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, says a protection order is more than just a piece of paper.

“It is a recognizable, enforceable order of the court, and it also can allay the concerns of a lot of survivors that they have to be continually looking over their shoulder and worried about ongoing harm or threats from a person who has obviously already harmed them,” Coble told Missourinet.

Missouri Kids First Deputy Director Emily van Schenkhof says the bill would also allow the state to intervene when a child is being abused by another child.

“Our statute that governs how our child welfare system works requires that the person who is committing the alleged offense against the child had care, custody, and control [of the child]. So when our hotline received calls from folks who were concerned about being sexually abused by other juveniles, those other juveniles typically didn’t have care, custody, and control.”

Van Schenkhof says that typically meant nothing would happen to stop the abuse from continuing, “and so we were leaving children who were being molested by juveniles in really bad situations.”

The bill would also add to the definition of a sexual assault in regards to an order of protection, a lack of consent.

“A lack of consent is now a part of the definition of a sexual assault or sexual offense for orders of protection. That covers someone who is incapacitated, who is incapable of consent, who is passed out, who is on medication or who is disabled,” said Coble.

Both advocates expect Governor Nixon to sign the bill.

“This is in line with issues and priorities that the governor has acted on both when he was in the Missouri Senate, when he was attorney general, and now governor,” said Coble.

“I think the governor is going to love this bill,” said van Schenkhof.

The legislation is SB 341.

By Alisa Nelson (Missourinet) – Some critics say the Legislature’s plan to limit the amount of revenue cities can get from traffic tickets and fines will be challenged in court because it would set a lower limit in St. Louis County than in the rest of Missouri.

Governor Jay Nixon (D) says the two-level approach isn’t a deal-breaker for the bill to get his signature, though he says it’s not what he had in mind.

“By far, some of the challenges in that part of the state, I don’t think we would be here today as far as getting a bill done.”

The bill would set that limit at 12.5% in St. Louis County and 20% in the rest of the state. There would also be a maximum limit for a traffic ticket violation and court costs to $300 collectively. The charge for failure to appear in court was dropped.

Senate sponsor Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale) said municipal courts have been too focused on generating revenue to cover city budgets.

“There are municipalities that are budgeting more for traffic tickets and fines for the next year. I think that’s a mentality that we’ve got to start to look at,” said Schmitt. “That isn’t what this country is supposed to be about. We have an opportunity, reflecting on what these injustices have been and the breakdown that has taken place between people and the trust that they have with their government and court system.”

The bill has been sent to the Governor.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – A bill to offer options for sentencing a juvenile guilty of first-degree murder is one priority in the final week of the legislative session.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled juveniles cannot be sentenced to death, and life without parole cannot be the only possible sentence for them, as is presently the case in Missouri.

The House is ready to debate a Senate bill that would eliminate life without parole for minors guilty of first-degree murder and let them be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole or 25-40 years in prison.

Nikola Nable-Juris with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth told lawmakers eliminating life without for minors is a good idea.

“We really do think kids can grow and change. No matter what their crime is, there’s space for growth,” Nable-Juris told Missourinet. She said she would like to see a shorter sentencing range, but said, “this version would at least give people parole eligibility.”

The Senate sponsor of that bill, Bob Dixon (R-Springfield) doesn’t like eliminating the option of life without parole.

“The accused can always be charged with a lesser crime, but we don’t know what all of the possible, quite frankly very heinous crimes are that are out there,” Dixon said.

Until the issue is settled, minors in Missouri guilty of first-degree murder cannot be sentenced. Dixon says that leaves victims and offenders in limbo.

“It’s important, number one, that we do justice for all involved, and right now we do not have the ability to do that,” Dixon said.

Dixon says the U.S. Supreme Court is also considering a related case that, depending on the decision it reaches, could lead to lawsuits against Missouri. He hopes the issue can be settled before the close of the session Friday.

The representative in charge of the bill in the House, Robert Cornejo (R-St. Peters), said the issue needs to be settled before the end of the session, but believes a case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court could provide some guidance in the interim.

“If we get something done and then the court case comes back saying something a little bit different then we can always come back and tweak the statute, but I don’t think it is the end of the world if we don’t get something done this session,” said Cornejo.