(Missourinet) – The Missouri Supreme Court has issued a decision on a case involving a flawed state law that could mean thousands of convictions and prison sentences will stay in place.

A 2002 legislative amendment to the state’s criminal code included inconsistent language.

The amendment allowed for stealing to be classified as a felony infraction if “value” was an element of the crime.  But the wording was problematic because the offense of stealing itself had no “value” attached to it in the code.

For roughly 14 years, people were charged and convicted of felony stealing until an attorney suspected there were inconsistencies in the law.  That case involved Amanda Bazell, who was sentenced to concurrent 12-year prison terms for burglary and stealing firearms.

An August 2016 decision in State vs. Bazell by the Supreme Court finally identified the flaw in the statute.  The court said “stealing” is “not defined to include, as an element of the offense, the value of property or services appropriated.”

After nullifying the offense of felony stealing last year, the high court Thursday said there will be no retroactive application of its 2016 decision, meaning all previous convictions and sentences for felony stealing will stay in place.

The court said its 2016 decision only applies to cases moving forward, except for those already pending on direct appeal.

After the 2016 decision, the state legislature changed the law’s language to include the offense of felony stealing.  Those changes went into effect in January, so the court’s latest rendering may not be relevant in new cases.

But it does mean that possibly thousands of convictions and prison sentences during the 14-year period when the law was improperly applied will remain in place.

In its decision released Thursday, the  court referenced a determination by the U.S Supreme Court which held that a state Supreme Court isn’t required to make different interpretations of state laws retroactive, but can make its own decision at the state level.

The high bench held that Missouri defendants received sentences authorized by different interpretations of the statute and should not receive the benefits of retroactive application.

The high court’s Thursday rendering was a response to four defendants who previously pleaded guilty to felony stealing and wanted their penalties reduced under the court’s 2016 decision in State v. Bazell.  The Supreme Court’s decision denying them relief was unanimous.

(Missourinet) – A Missouri lawmaker will file legislation in January to increase penalties on those who impede traffic on roads and interstates without a permit.

St. Louis Police say they made 143 arrests on Tuesday night, after protesters blocked traffic on Interstate 64 (Highway 40), near Kingshighway.

State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, tells Missourinet the First Amendment does not allow for the intentional disruption of the flow of traffic.

“It’s a situation that presents a clear and present danger that allows state governments, and even the federal government if they wanted to, to chime in and enact policies and penalties, so to speak,” Schroer says.

Schroer, an attorney, says the current penalty is a misdemeanor, if it’s prosecuted at all. He is still working on the bill, including the specifics of what the proposed penalties would be.

Schroer, who was elected to the House in 2016, says it’s also a safety issue.

“This is something that is unsafe to the protesters, it’s unsafe to the families, to the pedestrians, the civilians driving their cars,” says Schroer.

A similar bill from veteran State Rep. Nick Marshall, R-Parkville, died in the Missouri House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee in March.

Under the Marshall bill, the offense of unlawful traffic interference on a public street or highway would have been a class A misdemeanor for the first violation and a class E felony for subsequent violations. The offense of unlawful traffic interference committed on an interstate highway would have been a class E felony.

Critics of the Marshall bill included the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., D-St. Louis, who said during the March hearing that protests are meant to make people feel uncomfortable.

“To make people uncomfortable, to let people know that it’s not going to be business as usual, and actually make your voice heard,” Franks said in March.

The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports Representative Franks was one of the 143 people arrested on Tuesday night.

Franks has been a protest leader following the September not guilty verdict of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley. Stockley was charged in St. Louis City with first degree murder and armed criminal action, for the December 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith during a police pursuit.

As for Schroer, he tells Missourinet some protesters have damaged motorists’ vehicles, citing an alleged September incident on Main Street in St. Charles.

Schroer says his bill will protect the First Amendment rights of protesters. He also says this is about interstate commerce.

Missouri lawmakers can begin pre-filing bills on Friday, December 1.

The 2018 session will begin in Jefferson City on Wednesday January 3.

(Missourinet) – An annual wild-turkey brood-survey shows statewide turkey production has been below average.

Missouri Department of Conservation Turkey Biologist Jason Isabelle indicated that this year’s rainfall and flooding negatively impacted turkey production.

“We undoubtedly lost quite a few nests to flooding this year,” said Isabelle. “Even for the nests that escaped the high water, hens that are wet during incubation give off more odor than they do when they’re dry, which increases their chance of being located by a predator.”

Each summer, as part of the state’s wild turkey brood survey, MDC staff and citizen volunteers record the number of hens and recently hatched turkeys they see, which are called poults. These observations are then tallied to determine the success of the hatch, which is most often reported as the average number of poults per hen observed during the survey. Isabelle explained that the poult-to-hen ratio is a good measure of nesting success and poult survival.

“Each year, thousands of citizens participate in the survey and we are grateful for their contribution,” Isabelle said. “During the three-month survey, participants typically report sightings of 60,000-80,000 turkeys, which is a testament to the large number of dedicated volunteers that take time to participate in the survey each year.”

This year’s statewide poult-to-hen ratio was the same as the 2016 ratio and 43% less than the previous five-year average. Isabelle says the poor hatch will make fall turkey hunting more challenging this year.

“Having fewer young birds on the landscape this year will likely result in hunters having to put forth more effort to be successful. This will be especially true in areas that experience good acorn production,” he said.

Isabelle says relatively few people hunt turkeys during the fall firearms season, which results in low hunting pressure and little competition among hunters.

He also says that where acorns are abundant, turkeys spend more time in forested areas and do not have to range far to locate food.

Fall archery turkey hunting is until Nov. 10. The fall firearms portion runs through October 31.

(Missourinet) – The State Treasurer is encouraging Missourians to consider a college savings plan called MOST 529.

Eric Schmitt (R) tells Missourinet it’s aimed at helping people save for a child’s higher education, adding that it offers federal and state tax benefits.

“You’re able to deduct those contributions that you make to your MOST account, and then the gains that you realize over a period of years, hopefully well in advance of your child going to college, they aren’t taxed either,” Schmitt says.

Schmitt recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of the MOST 529 college savings plan.

“So room and board, books, computers, all those things that we know go into an individual getting through four or maybe sometimes a little more than four years of college, or sometimes less,” says Schmitt.

There are currently about 150,000 active MOST accounts, with $2.8 billion in total assets.

Noting that the number one thing site selectors look for is an educated workforce, Schmitt is also working with business leaders to encourage employees to participate in the MOST 529 plan.

Schmitt says St. Louis County, Marion and Platte counties are the top three Missouri counties for college savings.

Those rankings are determined by county participation rates in the MOST 529 plan.

St. Charles, Cole, Boone, Clay, Osage, Jackson and Franklin counties round out the top ten list.

(Missourinet) – The Missouri Supreme Court will hear a case Wednesday morning in Jefferson City challenging a 2008-gun law.

Sixty-five-year-old Jack Alpert has owned Missouri Bullet Company (MBC), which manufacturers gun ammunition, since 2007.  By 2010, he decided to expand the business to include manufacturing explosives and spent $62,000 on necessary equipment.

But when Alpert tried to renew his firearms license, he was told he was no longer eligible because of a state law passed in 2008 barring convicted felons from possessing arms.  Alpert has two felony drug convictions still on the books from the 1970s.

His bullet company was granted a federal license to continue manufacturing ammunition, and has been operating uninterrupted since. But because he’s barred from testing ammunition, Alpert says he won’t expand into explosives over liability issues. He’s not allowed to purchase the equipment needed to access product safety.

“In my case, we’re talking explosives,” said Alpert.  “And you cannot combine explosives with customers without having reasonable certainty that you’re not going to harm the customer.”

Alpert claims he applied for a gubernatorial pardon when he found out he was not eligible to carry arms in 2010, but says has not heard back from either former Governor Jay Nixon-D or current office holder Eric Greitens-R.

Since 1968, the federal Gun Control Act has prohibited convicted felons from possessing firearms, but the statute allows people to petition for relief from the restriction.

Alpert was able to regain his 2nd Amendment rights under that provision in 1983. But the 2008 Missouri law nullified that standing.

Currently, Missouri allows for probation and a Suspended Imposition of Sentence (SIS) in many drug possession cases. Alpert claims to have employees at MBC who have felony drug infractions that have regained their gun rights after moving through the current system.

He says he thinks it’s unfair that he’s being penalized for his 1970s convictions which wouldn’t carry the same criminal consequences today.

“If my 1970s arrests would have happened today, number one, I would have gotten instant probation. Nobody goes to jail on possessing $25 worth Benzedrine tablets. Craziness.”

Court documents filed by Alpert’s attorney say his company in western Missouri’s Johnson County is one of the most successful cast bullet manufacturers in the country, with 10 employees who receive health insurance and an employer-sponsored IRA. The filing says MBC grossed $2 million in 2016.

Alpert’s frustrated that because of his predicament, he can’t even test the bullets his company produces.

“(I was) an arms dealer for what 25, 30 years. Never a problem with the ATF, with anybody, no charges, no criminal acts of any kind. You aren’t going to find a squeakier, cleaner person than me.”

The document also says Alpert has stage four renal (kidney) cancer, and is mainly seeking to possess two firearms which are family heirlooms. One is a World War II Belgian pistol his father brought home that was confiscated from a Nazi officer. The other is a World War II rifle he was awarded in 1993 after participating in a marksmanship program.

Alpert’s attorney will be arguing before the Supreme Court for the 2008 law barring convicted felons from possessing guns to be thrown out as unconstitutional.

The state, led by Attorney General Josh Hawley, contends there’s no case to argue because Alpert doesn’t own any guns he could fight in court to keep.