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PRESSING CHARGES
Legal bills mount as Ferguson stands by ‘failure-to-comply’ cases BY STEPHEN DEERE • St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON • On a humid July evening, a Ferguson police of-
“These cases were pursued … to deter others participating in future protests from assuming there are no limits … to their activities …”
ficer spotted a malfunctioning taillight on a trailer and pulled over the pickup that was hauling it. Robert Mentzel, a property manager, wasn’t driving and was in the passenger seat. Still, the officer ordered him to produce his identification. “Why do you need to see my license?” asked Mentzel, then 54. “You’ve got to have probable cause.” The officer responded with an ultimatum: Provide your identification or go to jail. Mentzel handed over his license while suggesting he shouldn’t have to. He was arrested anyway. Today, nearly two years later, Ferguson prosecutors are pursuing a conviction against Mentzel, one of dozens of defendants charged with “failure to comply” — a charge that the U. S. Department of Justice has said Ferguson police have routinely abused.
See FERGUSON • Page A4
J. Patrick Chassaing, a Ferguson prosecutor
Protests disband, but Iraq still restive
PHOTOS BY DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com
“If I determine the evidence to be sufficient to show that a violation occurred, then my duty is to prosecute the case.” Stephanie Karr, Ferguson’s chief prosecutor
Missouri American rate plan questioned amid meter issues Utility replaced about 9,500 malfunctioning meters in county
Missouri lawmakers seek looser gun laws
Islamic State carries out a second bombing
Police officer organization opposes changes
BY SUSANNAH GEORGE AND SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press
BY KURT ERICKSON St. Louis Post-Dispatch
BAGHDAD • Anti-govern-
would drop. Missouri American argues this will allow the utility to freely promote conservation while continuing to invest in fixed infrastructure costs that aren’t affected by total water usage. Critics contend it shifts risk to customers and that
though Missouri is already ranked as a Top 10 state for gun owners, lawmakers are moving closer to further loosening the state’s firearms laws. As the legislative session enters its final two weeks, the House and Senate are considering making it legal for people to carry concealed weapons without a permit anywhere they now can carry guns openly. And, the Republican-led majorities also are considering an expansion of Missouri’s self-defense laws by allowing a person to use deadly force in public places if they believe a reasonable threat exists. The two proposals are the front-runners among a handful of gun bills to make it across the finish line before the Legislature adjourns on May 13. Other firearms legislation appears mostly stalled, including initiatives to allow firearms on college campuses
See METERS • Page A5
See GUNS • Page A8
ment protesters disbanded at least temporarily Sunday from the heavily fortified Green Zone they had stormed a day earlier after the Islamic State group carried out its second major attack in Iraq in as many days — a pair of car bombs that killed more than 30 people. The country’s political crisis intensified Saturday when hundreds of supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tore down walls and poured into the zone that is home to the seat of the Iraqi government and most foreign embassies. Loudspeaker announcements on Sunday evening urged protesters to leave peacefully. When the call came, hundreds calmly packed up and left, carrying flags and overnight bags away with them. Later in the day, families walked through the compound’s smoothly paved See IRAQ • Page A8
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LAURIE SKRIVAN • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Missouri American Water employee Frank Ballard listens to find the source of a water main break in April along the 8700 block of Eulalie Drive in Brentwood. BY JACOB BARKER St. Louis Post-Dispatch
With national water use dropping about 2 percent per year, Missouri American Water Co. has been pushing policies to shield it from the trend. The water company serving all of St. Louis County tried first to win over regulators dur-
Punchless Cards lose to Nationals, 6-1 SPORTS • B1
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ing a rate case filed last year. Its proposed mechanism would have adjusted rates to ensure it always collects the amount authorized by the Missouri Public Service Commission. If overall usage falls, rates would be pushed higher to make up the shortfall. If everyone uses more during a particularly dry summer, rates
Drawing focus to lung cancer Funding lags for biggest killer among cancers INSIDE • A2
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Ferguson’s prosecutorial fees adding up FERGUSON • FROM A1
Some critics say they believe financial and personal interests are driving the effort at a time when Ferguson should be working to enact the terms of a Justice Department agreement to reform the city’s police and court practices. Many of the cases involve protesters accused of disregarding orders to leave an area as police broke up crowds during demonstrations after the shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014. While some defendants have taken plea agreements, paid their fines, or had their cases dismissed, a handful believe their arrests were unjustified and refuse to accept anything short of acquittal. After approving a far-reaching consent decree with the Justice Department, city leaders promised to move the community forward. Yet the private lawyers employed by the city to prosecute ordinance violations have refused to back down, even in cases the Justice Department cited as infringements on constitutional rights. All told, the prosecutions have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Convictions in those cases may yield a fine of $150 — the hourly fee for Ferguson prosecutors. From 2014 to 2015, the amount prosecutors billed Ferguson rose from $30,260 to $61,705. For work during the first three months of 2016, prosecutors’ charged Ferguson just over $30,000. If that pace continues, prosecutors could cost the city more than $120,000 this year. Stephanie Karr, Ferguson’s chief prosecutor and a lawyer with Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe, defended the city’s legal approach. Violations of law are “contrary to the public health, safety and welfare,” she said in an email. “Therefore, the public interest is served by taking action to prevent further violations of the law by making offenders accountable.” Meanwhile, city leaders have bemoaned Ferguson’s multimillion-dollar budget deficits and warned of significant staff and service reductions if voters did not approve tax increases in April. Moreover, the city has been losing cases at a greater rate than its peers. Ferguson prosecutors received not-guilty verdicts in 40 percent of trials heard by the city judge over a 14-month period ending in February — the highest rate of not-guilty verdicts among similarly sized municipalities, according to data from the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator. At a trial Wednesday in St. Louis County Circuit Court, Associate Circuit Judge Joseph S. Dueker questioned the merits of one Ferguson failure-to-comply case. J. Patrick Chassaing — one of four Ferguson prosecutors — could not produce an officer who had arrested the defendant, nor a witness who saw the defendant disregard an officer’s order, nor a witness who could testify that the defendant heard a police order to disperse. “There’s no testimony regarding this defendant at all, not that she was even there,” Dueker said. Still, Karr disagreed that some failure-to-comply cases that she and her colleagues were pursuing had insufficient evidence. “If I, as prosecutor, determined there to be a lack of evidence, the case would be dismissed,” she said in an email. “If I determine the evidence to be sufficient to show that a violation occurred, then my duty is to prosecute the case.”
BATTLEGROUND FOR LAWYERS A case can be moved from a municipal court to St. Louis County Circuit Court at a defendant’s request. For the past few months, the associate circuit courts on the third floor of Justice Center in Clayton have served as the battleground for lawyers from two of St. Louis County’s influential legal organizations: the nonprofit ArchCity Defenders and the Curtis Heinz law firm. Lawyers with Curtis Heinz work as prosecutors, judges and/or city attorneys in 26 of the county’s 90 municipalities, including Ferguson. While Curtis Heinz profits from the county’s medley of municipalities and the courts that fund them, ArchCity has worked to challenge that system. Within days of protests breaking out after Brown’s death, ArchCity lawyers published a white paper arguing that excessive ticketing in north St. Louis County violated the Constitution, contributed to job loss and damaged confidence in the po-
DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Defense lawyer Justin Farishon talks with his client, Jasmine Woods (right), during Woods' failure to comply case in St. Louis County Circuit Court on April 27. Woods was one of eleven people arrested outside the Ferguson Police Department after a prayer vigil on Aug. 11, 2014. Prosector J. Patrick Chassaing (left) was unable to produce a police officer or witness who could testify that they saw Woods disobey police orders.
MUNICIPAL PROSECUTOR FEES FOR WORK IN 2015 Florissant $85,298 Kirkwood $81,063 Maryland Heights $70,910 $66,558 Webster Groves Hazelwood $64,796 Ferguson $61,705 Chesterfield $57,984 Ballwin $34,620 University City $30,000 Wildwood $20,800 Source: Municipal attorney invoices
CRISTINA M. FLETES • cfletes@post-dispatch.com
Robert Mentzel Jr., 55, of unincorporated south St. Louis County, was charged with failure to comply with an officer’s direction in July 2014. His case is pending.
lice. The paper, which described Ferguson as a “chronic offender,” helped explain some of the anger behind the protests and led to legislation limiting revenue from fines. A Justice Department report on Ferguson’s police and court expanded on the paper’s themes and singled out Karr for criticism several times. Among the accusations were that she engaged in “retaliatory conduct” against lawyers who challenged the city.
LIMITED AUTHORITY For nearly 10 hours on Jan. 13, four ArchCity lawyers, along with criminal defense attorney Justin Farishon, met with Chassaing in a conference room at Ferguson City Hall to depose police officers in six “failureto-comply” cases. In all but one case, the officers could not identify the arresting officer, said William Waller, an ArchCity lawyer. The depositions cost the city $1,470 in legal fees. Carl Lumley, president of Curtis Heinz, said his firm’s lawyers were just doing their jobs. “While I am not involved in these prosecutions, I am not at all surprised that after all the events in Ferguson there would be an unusual level of cases to prosecute, with attendant expense,” he said. Ferguson City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said he learned of the rising legal costs from a reporter’s records requests. But he said he could not intervene because prosecutors are supposed to operate free from political influence. “We really can’t dictate to the prosecutor which cases they take, which cases they don’t take, or how they handle those cases,” said Seewood, who was hired in November. “For me as a city manager, if I stepped into that role, I would be overextending my authority.” Karr became the city attorney for Ferguson in 2004 and moved there soon after. The city made her prosecutor as well in 2011. Protesters targeted Karr this year after the City Council voted 3-2 to appoint Laverne Mitchom, a retired educator who attended some protests, to a vacant council seat. Karr essentially blocked the appointment when she said four votes were needed.
At Ferguson’s next council meeting on Feb. 2, Keith Rose, also arrested in 2014 in Ferguson for failure to comply, brought signs that read “Stop the KARRruption.”
DIFFICULT TO PROVE The most high-profile Ferguson trial began on Feb. 8, when Chassaing argued to a St. Louis County jury that the Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, who was taken into custody in September 2014 while on his knees praying outside the Police Department, disobeyed officers as they disbanded a protest. On Feb. 9, Sekou’s case resumed. A jury acquitted him in less than 20 minutes. Hours later, the Ferguson City Council approved a Justice Department agreement, called a consent decree, but with key changes that diluted the document’s power. That provoked a Justice Department lawsuit. The council also unanimously agreed to seat Mitchom. The decree requires officers to obtain a supervisor’s approval before making a failure-to-comply arrest, to keep data on such arrests and to discipline police who abuse the charge. But it does not prevent the prosecution of defendants previously arrested. The next day, Francesca Griffin‘s trial centered on whether an officer had ordered her to drop her keys, and whether the 35-year-old mother of three could have put them in her bra. That case ended in a hung jury. A week later, Ferguson secured a date for new trial, which has yet to take place. Other prosecutors say they are reluctant to pursue failureto-comply charges. Christopher Graville, a prosecutor in four municipalities, says such cases are difficult to prove. The order has to be lawful. The defendant has to have heard it. And a reasonable person must have been able to understand it. “The majority of times I dismiss it,” he said.
PRESUMED GUILT Ferguson approved its consent decree with the Justice Department after Mitchom’s appointment provided the crucial vote to put the agreement back on the council’s agenda. It was filed
in federal court on March 17, resolving the Justice Department lawsuit. Karr and Chassaing have forged ahead with the failure-tocomply prosecutions. Four trials were held last month in St. Louis County Circuit Court regarding failureto-comply arrests from August 2014, including those of Michael Powers, legislative director for St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, and Meghan Flannery, an employee at St. Louis Alderman Antonio French’s North Campus education center. The two had gone to the Police Department to wait for French to be released from jail after he was arrested. They were later arrested, too, after there were confrontations between protesters and police outside the police department. The other cases stemmed from failure-to-comply arrests when protesters gathered after a prayer vigil outside the Police Department on Aug. 11, 2014. But no witness testified that they saw any of the defendants disobey police orders to leave the area. In the trial of Rose, the activist said that after a vigil, a Ferguson police officer told him to wait on a parking lot while police cleared the street. Moments later, he said, he saw an officer from an unknown department point at him, then St. Louis County Police put him in handcuffs. A Ferguson officer testified he remembered seeing Rose among the protesters. But no witness remembered seeing defendants in two other trials. Judge Dueker has yet to rule in the four trials. But in the most recent two trials, he pointed to a lack of evidence. He said the prosecutor’s cases seemed to hinge on the belief that because the defendants had been arrested, they must be guilty. Chassaing acknowledged the cases were circumstantial, but said the judge should convict the defendants. The judge, he said, could infer that because officers took the defendants into custody, they had been among 11 protesters disregarding police orders to stay out of the street. As the courtroom emptied one afternoon, Chassaing noted that lawyers can’t choose the facts in their cases. But they can choose whether
to prosecute, others say. “Given the lack of evidence, these cases have become personal for the prosecutors,” said Rose’s lawyer, ArchCity’s Joshua Canavan. Chassaing disagreed. He said the demonstrators threatened to rape and kill officers, their spouses, children and pets, and some had ignored repeated commands to leave the area. “These cases were pursued in order to deter others participating in future protests from assuming there are no limits or parameters to their activities and that repeated orders to leave given to what became a very ugly crowd,” he wrote in an email.
HIGH WEEDS Of the 38 Ferguson municipal cases pending in St. Louis County Circuit Court, 18 involve a failure-to-comply charge, including the case of Mentzel, the property manager stopped for the taillight who was ordered to provide his license on July 14, 2014, a month before the protests. Mentzel’s statement about the officer needing probable cause referred to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a demand for identification violates the Fourth Amendment unless a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime. “In America, you don’t have to show your papers,” said Javad Khazaeli, who represents Mentzel, along with ArchCity. “This is essentially him saying, ‘Show me your papers.’” In a police report, Officer Eddie Boyd III argued that when Mentzel invoked his constitutional rights Boyd had reasonable suspicion that Mentzel was a fugitive; and because he was told more than once to produce his ID, he had disobeyed the order. But Mentzel said he reached for his wallet to produce his license while questioning Boyd’s right to see it. Mentzel’s account of the arrest appears in the Justice Department report. So did other incidents involving Boyd, a former St. Louis city and St. Ann officer facing two lawsuits in federal court over failure-to-comply arrests in Ferguson. The day Mentzel was jailed, the city also cited him for high weeds at a house on South Harvey Avenue. When Boyd pulled over the pickup, it was on South Harvey. Inside the trailer with a broken taillight was a lawnmower. At the time, Mentzel was on his way to cut the grass, he said. Now that case is also in Judge Dueker’s court, costing taxpayers $150 for every hour Karr spends on it. Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com
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TRUMP TRIUMPHS
With Cruz and Kasich out, path is paved to nomination WAVE OF OLDER PEOPLE IS ON THE WAY
He vows to unite splintered party DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Pegi Nardoni, 69, an office manager with the Shepherd’s Center, which offers services for older people, cruises down the three-story slide at City Museum during a trip and tour of the museum for seniors on Wednesday.
Service agencies say region had better prepare BY KRISTEN TAKETA St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Officials say a demographic wave, a surge of older people, has already started to hit shore in St. Louis and the region needs to prepare. Until 2030, the number of people 65 years or older in St. Louis is projected to increase by 15,000 every year. In the next three decades, the number of people in that senior set will jump 77 percent. Census figures from 2014 show the St. Louis area had the eighth highest percentage of older people
Can talcum powder really cause cancer? BY BLYTHE BERNHARD St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Can talcum powder cause ovarian cancer? Two St. Louis juries this year have said yes, awarding large verdicts in cases of women who developed cancer after using Johnson & Johnson products. But the scientific evidence is mixed. Inflammation is thought to increase the risk of ovarian cancer. And talc causes swelling when applied to the genital area. Talc particles also can migrate to a woman’s ovaries and fallopian tubes, which may cause further See TALCUM • Page A9
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in the country, at 14.9 percent. But by 2045, a quarter of the region’s population will be 65 or older. “I don’t think people are very much aware of that,” said Mary Schaefer, executive director of the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging. “It’s like we’re in denial that we’re aging, and I think that’s a pretty common situation. People do not like to admit that we’re growing old.” The staggering shift prompted the regional planning group East-West Gateway to host a panel discussion on the potential needs of the aging
population Wednesday night at the Central Library downtown. But the issues have long been on the minds of those in the region who work with seniors. The remaining life expectancy for the average 65-year-old was 19.1 years in 2010, almost four years more than what it was in 1972, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2050, the U.S. is expected to almost double the number of people age 65 and older it had in 2012, from 43.1 million to 83.7 million. See AGING • Page A7
Ferguson moves to remove controversial prosecutor BY STEPHEN DEERE St. Louis Post-Dispatch
City Attorney Stephanie Karr from her position as prosecutor, more than a year after the Justice Department accused Ferguson’s municipal court of numerous constitutional violations and singled out Karr for her role in them. City officials said they recognize that having the same person as both city attorney and prosecutor could appear as a conflict of interest. “They (the Justice Department) talked about how there is the appearance of a conflict,” City City Attorney Stephanie Karr
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GOP establishment faces hard choices • Editorial, A14 Cruz left Republicans with no options • Editorial, A14 Clinton explores how to woo GOP voters • Nation, A8
ANALYSIS
‘Unpopularity contest’ for the ages: Trump vs. Clinton
See ANALYSIS • Page A8
Nixon vetoes plan for education
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WASHINGTON • After Donald Trump virtually clinched the Republican presidential nomination, after Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton stumbled and lost Indiana near her party’s finish line, the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman tweeted this of Americans’ presidential choices in November: “This will be an unpopularity contest.” In the modern era of polling, Clinton would be the least liked major party nominee if it were not for Trump, who has large swaths of the electorate — featuring Hispanics and women — rating him unfavorably, sometimes by 3-1 or more. Clinton-Trump would be a “you don’t have to say you love me” election, a test of the theory of relative
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WASHINGTON • Donald Trump’s last Republican foe, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, ended his quixotic presidential campaign Wednesday, cementing Trump’s remarkable triumph as his party’s presumptive nominee and launching him toward a likely battle in the fall with Hillary Clinton. Some reluctant Republicans began to rally around Trump, but others agonized over their party’s future. The billionaire businessman vowed to unite the splintered GOP, even as he was bitingly dismissive of members who have been critical of his campaign. “Those people can go away and maybe come back in eight years after we served two terms,” he said on NBC’s “Today” Show. “Honestly, there are some
BY CHUCK RAASCH St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON • The city is removing
See FERGUSON • Page A9
BY JULIE PACE AND STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press
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U.S.: LGBT law violates civil rights
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Holliday’s walk-off hit lifts Cards
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Jury awards fail to clarify safety of talc TALCUM • FROM A1
inflammation, said Dr. Adetunji Toriola, a cancer researcher at Washington University. Some epidemiological studies that rely on women’s memories to track their usage of talc products have shown an increase in the risk of cancer. Other studies that follow women’s health habits over time — including a paper published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2014 — have not shown a link. The risk, if any, is small. If the case studies are correct, there could be four extra ovarian cancer cases per 100,000 women who use talc products, Toriola said. But when there are alternatives such as cornstarch-based powders, “it’s probably safer and better to avoid anything that could potentially increase the risk of cancer,” he said. Johnson & Johnson is accused by more than 1,200 plaintiffs in state and federal courts of ignoring studies linking its Shower-to-Shower product and Johnson’s Baby Powder to ovarian cancer. A St. Louis jury on Monday ordered the company to pay $55 million to a survivor of the disease in South Dakota. In February, another local jury awarded $72 million to relatives of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer. Both cases were handled by the Onder Law Firm of Webster Groves, which has advertised nationwide for ovarian cancer patients who suspect baby powder may be linked to their disease. Another trial with lead plaintiff Tenesha Farrar of St. Louis is expected to start later this year, although legal experts say Johnson & Johnson might move toward settling future cases. Farrar’s attorney, Eric Holland of the Holland Law Firm of St. Louis, said internal company memos show the company knew about the ovarian cancer risk. Johnson & Johnson denies any link between talc and ovarian cancer and will appeal both verdicts, according to a spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, the jury’s decision goes against 30 years of studies by medical experts around the world that continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” said Carol Goodrich, in a statement. “Johnson & Johnson has always taken questions about the safety of our products extremely seriously.” For decades, pediatricians have ad-
vised against using baby powder to treat diaper rash, mostly because of the risk of inhalation and lung irritation. But the application of baby powder to underwear, menstrual pads and genitals of teenagers and women has long been a hygiene habit. A federal health survey found that more than half of American women have used baby powder in their genital area at one time. The practice is thought to be even more popular among African-American and Hispanic women. Lawyers say the company knew of this preference among certain women and targeted its marketing accordingly. Many of the plaintiffs, including Farrar, are black. The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance said the verdicts will not change the information they provide to women about talcum powder. “In highly publicized cases like these, we must be careful as a women’s health organization to let science guide our reactions. The fact remains that the science is inconclusive about increased risk of ovarian cancer to women using talcum powder,” said Audra Moran, the group’s president and CEO, in a statement. Talcum powder products contain the mineral talc that can absorb moisture and prevent chafing and rash. It is used in eye shadow, blush and some chewing gums as well as baby powder. Some talc naturally contains asbestos, which is known to cause lung cancer. Asbestos has been removed from household talcum products since the 1970s. The American Cancer Society states research into talc and ovarian cancer is ongoing, and “until more information is available, people concerned about using talcum powder may want to avoid or limit their use of consumer products that contain it.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies the use of baby powder with talc on or near the genitals as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” Talc has been found in ovarian cancer tumors, according to pathology reports, but most biopsies do not test for the mineral. And the presence of talc does not necessarily indicate it caused the cancer. As with many areas of cancer research, the questions on its causes are more plentiful than answers.
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Friday 9 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Ceremony at 10:00 a.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. St. Louis Community College Forest Park Campus, 5600 Oakland ave. St. Louis, MO 63110 Transition and Care Management Homeless Veteran Stand Down Stand Up! For Women Veterans Women Veterans Summit Legal Clinic VA Health Care Representatives Veterans Benefits Administration Free Hair Cut Service Health & Wellness Center Veterans Service Officers College Representatives VA Caregiver Support Employment Resources Career Development Classes On Line Application Computer Training Veterans Adventure Abilities Expo Fly Fishing Gateway PVA Kayaking Scuba program Adaptive Golf Adaptive Bowling Raffles FREE Food and Beverages Children Activities
About 14,240 women each year die from ovarian cancer, the fifth-deadliest type of cancer among women. About 46 percent of women survive five years after diagnosis. Most ovarian cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, in part because the early symptoms can be vague and include bloating, pelvic pain and urgency to urinate. There is no reliable universal screening test for ovarian cancer. For more information, visit ovariancancer.org.
Blythe Bernhard • 314-340-8129 @blythebernhard on Twitter bbernhard@post-dispatch.com
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In 2016, an estimated 22,280 U.S. women will be diagnosed with cancer of the ovaries. It is most common in white women, and the median age of diagnosis is 63.
Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch and news services contributed to this report.
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Karr will retain her position as city attorney in Ferguson FERGUSON • FROM A1
Manager De’Carlon Seewood said. “We want to make sure that anything that has that appearance, we can move past it … We understand some of our processes in the past need to be updated. We want to move forward.” The city posted an advertisement for a new prosecutor on its website Tuesday evening. Karr will remain city attorney, a position she has held since 2004. Karr did not return a phone call seeking comment. In March 2015, the Justice Department accused Karr in a report on Ferguson’s police and court practices of retaliating against lawyers who challenged her and dismissing tickets for friends. Earlier this year, as the city considered an extensive agreement to reform the police department and court, protesters targeted Karr after the City Council voted 3-2 to appoint Laverne Mitchom, a retired educator who attended some protests, to a vacant council seat. Karr had essentially blocked the appointment by saying four votes were needed. Protesters held up signs at the next City Council meeting that read “Stop the KARR-ruption.” The city approved the Justice Department agreement in March, yet Karr and J. Patrick Chassaing — another lawyer at Karr’s law firm, Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe — have continued to prosecute “failureto-comply” cases, even in instances
ity’s financial interest, while a prosecutor pursues justice on behalf of its residents. The advertisement posted by the city says applicants should pay close attention to a provision in the Justice Department agreement that says: “the City will develop and implement policies to ensure that the Ferguson Municipal Court operates impartially, independently from the City Prosecutor, and in a manner that eliminates existing and potential unlawful conflicts of interest...” It’s unclear how the search for a new prosecutor may affect the upcoming trials of demonstrators facing failure-to-comply charges. Two are scheduled for this month in St. Louis County Circuit Court, including the trial of Umar Lee, a cabdriver and freelance writer. The city will accept proposals for the position for three weeks and then select finalists to be interviewed — possibly by the entire City Council. Seewood said he expects the process to take a little more than six weeks. During that time, the city might hire an interim law firm to prosecute ordinance violations, he said. While Seewood said the reason for Karr’s removal was to eliminate the appearance of a conflict, he did mention one other benefit: “It also allows us to have some fresh eyes on some prosecutions.” Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com
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the Justice Department cited as constitutional infringements, as detailed in a Post-Dispatch story on Monday. The Justice Department said police routinely abuse the failure-to-comply charge. Karr and Chassaing, two of four private lawyers acting as prosecutors for Ferguson, have no limit on the number of hours for which they can bill. From 2014-15, prosecutors’ expenses doubled, and they are on pace to double again this year — mostly because they are prosecuting protesters charged with failure to comply. Some of the demonstrators have retained attorneys from the nonprofit ArchCity Defenders and the St. Louis University legal clinic. In two recent trials, the city couldn’t produce the arresting officer or anyone who witnessed the defendants failing to comply with a police order or anyone who testified that the defendants heard the order. A St. Louis County circuit judge remarked that the city had essentially argued that because the defendants had been arrested, they were guilty. Council member Wesley Bell, a prosecutor in Riverview, said he didn’t know the details of some cases and couldn’t comment on them. But for months, he has argued that the two roles needed to be separate. “In Ferguson, we have to get it right,” Bell said. “There is no other option.” St. Louis University law professor Brendan Roediger noted that the positions have differing interests. The city attorney protects a municipal-
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The St. Louis Community Release Center brings hundreds of high-risk parolees downtown, where they finish up their sentences. Many come and go without supervision — and some commit robberies, rapes and murders.
HALFWAY HOUSE STIRS FEAR BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ABOUT THE CENTER Located at 1621 North First Street, just north of the Lumière Place casino in downtown St. Louis Houses up to 550 of the state’s worst offenders who are finishing up their sentences 163 of the residents are registered sex offenders Offenders are given passes to leave the facility during the day to look for employment
DAVID CARSON • P-D
ST. LOUIS • Monte Lynch’s freedom didn’t last long. Lynch arrived in St. Louis in March to finish a six-year robbery sentence at a massive halfway house near downtown. Last week, he slipped away and, police allege, robbed two Clayton banks. By last Thursday afternoon, he was driving a brown van the wrong way on crowded Interstate 270 while being pursued by several area police departments.
Lynch, 45, was eventually apprehended and charged with second-degree robbery and resisting arrest. Lynch was just one of nearly 6,000 high-risk parolees pushed through the 550-bed St. Louis Community Release Center over the last five years, according to data reviewed by the Post-Dispatch. The state sends its most severe offenders to the center, the only such facility left in Missouri after a similar center in Kansas City was closed. See PAROLEES • Page A5
‘THE MAYOR’ OF PARKWAY WEST HIGH PHOTOS BY ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Holt Priest gets in on the act last month as Parkway West High School parents photographed their daughters at Meadowbrook Country Club in Chesterfield before the senior prom.
Autistic graduate thrived when students, teachers took leap, let him in BY ELISA CROUCH • St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Hoisting the Founders’ Award, the highest honor given to graduating seniors, Holt Priest receives a standing ovation by students, staff, parents and Parkway West Principal Jeremy Mitchell (left) on Wednesday.
Programs for disabled see abrupt funding cuts
CHESTERFIELD • It’s lunch period at Parkway West High School and Holt Priest, a senior known as “the Mayor,” enters the cafeteria to begin what has been his daily ritual since August. He arranges seven chairs around a table near the windows. He exchanges handshakes and fist bumps with those who walk past the table. He sits down to chicken tenders and french fries. He cracks open a root beer. Holt wears a matching hat and T-shirt almost daily. He See MAYOR • Page A6
Trump, Ryan, pledge to heal rift within GOP
BY NANCY CAMBRIA St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Big man on campus
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BY ERICA WERNER • Associated Press
WASHINGTON • Straining to mend their party after months of chaos, Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan declared themselves “totally committed” to working together after a fence-mending personal meeting on Thursday. Ryan praised Trump as “very warm and genuine” and suggested that after initial hesitance he may well end up endorsing the GOP candidate for president. “We will have policy disputes. … The question is, can we unify on the common core principles that make our party?” See TRUMP • Page A8
Letter from Washington > Anatomy of a DC circus • A8
See DISABLED • Page A6
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Ferguson loses three cases against protesters BY STEPHEN DEERE St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • The bad news about funding cuts from the St. Louis Office of Developmental Disabilities Resources arrived in people’s inboxes on Monday. Agencies that serve the city’s developmentally disabled learned that their share of a fund supported by nearly $10 million a year in property tax revenue was being cut. It was so deep and unexpected, one recipient thought she was reading a typo. Some agencies were informed they were losing 15 percent to 20 percent of grant money to provide workforce development, independent living and other services. Others saw their programs eliminated or cut to the point they would have to shut them down.
TODAY
On the night of the senior prom, Holt Priest gets ready with the help of his sister, Kristin, and mother, Kim, on April 30. A photograph of Holt playing defensive back on the Parkway West football team stands over his bed.
FERGUSON • A St. Louis County judge has ruled against the city of Ferguson in three cases that stemmed from arrests when protesters gathered after a prayer vigil outside the Police Department on Aug. 11, 2014, following the shooting death of Michael Brown. The defendants — Keith Rose, Michael Lhotak and Jasmine Woods — all had been charged with failure-to-comply, a charge that the U.S. Justice Department has accused Ferguson police of routinely abusing. The city alleged that all three defendants had disobeyed officers’ orders to leave the area during the August protest. The defendants were represented for free by the nonprofit Arch City Defenders and lawyer Justin Farishon. See FERGUSON • Page A5
Planned Parenthood keeps license
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Voters to decide issue of voter ID
• A5
Monsanto now a takeover target
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Blues’ Hitchcock deserves praise
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Voters will decide issue of voter photo ID BY JACK SUNTRUP St. Louis Post-Dispatch
JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri
House Republicans voted Thursday to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot later this year requiring photo ID at the polls, but not before Democrats bashed the proposal one last time. The plan has drawn some of the most heated debate of the legislative session. Opponents say the proposed requirement is a ploy to decrease turnout among Democraticleaning voters. Supporters say it’s needed to ensure in-person voter impersonation fraud doesn’t take place. “The sad part of this is that people in this body think it’s a
joke,” said state Rep. Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City. “They think that when we push these buttons in front of us — the red and green buttons — it has no implications. “Then we hear people say, ‘Well, you know, everybody has an ID, everybody has a bank account,’” he said. “Well, that’s ignorance, because that shows the fact that you don’t understand the difference between a privilege and a right. It’s a privilege to have an ID.” Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander’s office estimates that there are 220,000 registered voters in the state who lack a photo ID. Kander is a Democrat. Critics cite studies indicating that voter impersonation fraud — lying about who you are at
the ballot box — is rare and not a problem worth solving. They argue that in states with strict voter ID laws, turnout among Democratic-leaning voters has decreased. Justin Levitt, a researcher at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, counted only 31 credible cases nationwide of in-person voter fraud out of more than 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014. A study out of the University of California, San Diego suggests that the strictest voter ID laws can reduce participation of strong liberals by up to 10.7 points compared with states without the laws. Participation among strong conservatives also drops, but only by 2.8 points, the researchers found.
Confusion over new rules has also led to problems. A study from the University of Houston and Rice University suggests that confusion over Texas’ law reduced turnout among Hispanics in the 2014 midterm elections. “A lot of them haven’t taken the time to really research this,” Ellington said of supporters. But supporters countered that compromise language from the Senate ensures that no one will actually be prevented from voting. Under the language that would go into effect upon voter approval, voters without an ID will be able to sign a form saying that they don’t have an ID, are who they claim to be, and recognize that voter ID is the law of the land.
If they decline to sign the form, they could cast a provisional ballot; the vote would count if the person could later prove their identity. The state would also pay for IDs and source documents needed to obtain them. If the state did not appropriate money in any given year, the requirements would not be in effect. The language laying out how the requirement would be enforced still needs either Gov. Jay Nixon’s signature or a successful override in the Legislature if he vetoes the bill. The legislation is House Bill 1631 and House Joint Resolution 53. Jack Suntrup • 573-556-6184 @JackSuntrup on Twitter jsuntrup@post-dispatch.com
Judge cited cases for lack of evidence FERGUSON • FROM A1
In an order dated Tuesday, Judge Joseph S. Dueker found Rose not guilty. Rose learned of the decision Wednesday. In the other two cases, he went even further, granting motions for judgment of acquittal — an unusual step that means the evidence was so weak no reasonable person could find the defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The cases were tried in April and cost the city thousands of dollars in legal fees. During the trials, the prosecution could not produce witnesses to the alleged crimes, the officers who made the arrests, or anyone who could say that the defendants heard the order to disperse. City Attorney Stephanie Karr, Ferguson’s chief prosecutor and a lawyer with Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe, has defended the prosecutions, saying in an email, that violations of law are “contrary to the public health, safety and welfare. Therefore, the public interest is served by taking action to prevent further violations of the law by making offenders accountable.” Karr’s colleague J. Patrick Chassaing served as the prosDAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com ecutor in the trials and said that Defense lawyer Justin Farishon shakes hands with his client Jasmine Woods at the end of Woods’ hearing some demonstrators threatened on a failure-to-comply charge in St. Louis County court on Wednesday. Woods was one of 11 people arrested the lives of the police officers, outside the Ferguson Police Department after a prayer vigil on Aug. 11, 2014. their spouses and children during the Aug. 11 protests. He said the “cases were pursued in order there are no limits or parameters advertisement for a new pros- ger want to have the same lawyers from the same firm serving ecutor. to deter others participating in to their activities...” Officials have said they no lon- as prosecutor and city attorney. Last week, the city posted an future protests from assuming
State says massive halfway house near downtown will remain open despite complaints about crime PAROLEES • FROM A1
Florida Street
reet
e Cass Avenu
St Commercial
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Mississippi River
The center has largely operated out of the spotlight since it opened in 1978. But St. Louis leaders have grown worried it could be a source of persistent crime and homeless issues that have plagued downtown for decades. Its residents have been responsible for a number of rapes, murders and robberies over the last few years — although the total number is difficult for authorities to pinpoint. The Lynch arrest is just one of several recent situations involving release center residents: • Michael Smith was charged last month with allegedly stab-
70
1st Street
FELONS OR FOOTBALL?
Broadway
It is here that they are expected to begin serving their parole and become reintroduced to the public. For that reason, many are able to sign out every day and leave without supervision — including some of the 160 registered sex offenders who live there now. But after a spate of crimes committed by residents of the center, city leaders are asking whether housing such a heavy concentration of dangerous convicts so close to downtown poses a public safety threat in a city that struggles to fight homicides and other serious crimes. “We already carry the region’s burden of homelessness and probably the state,” said Mary Ellen Ponder, Mayor Francis Slay’s chief of staff. “To bear the responsibility for the state’s recently released prisoners is a lot. Especially when the state has slashed mental health services and doesn’t do much to help.” Ponder said her office is launching a study of the center to try to determine its impact on the city and to explore alternatives.
St. Louis Community Release Center
Post-Dispatch
bing a woman in the throat. She stumbled into downtown’s Lumière Place casino and hotels, a few blocks away, seeking help. • Timothy Ates, a registered sex offender staying at the facility, was charged in March with sexually assaulting a woman in a downtown parking garage. He pleaded guilty last month to third-degree sexual assault. • Toney Simpson, a convicted rapist living at the facility, was charged in January with allegedly kidnapping and raping a woman at an abandoned building downtown. Kansas City successfully lobbied last year to have a sister release facility there transformed into a prison, leaving the center in St. Louis the only one of its kind in the state. Lewis Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, said the release center model is outdated and a risk to downtown residents and workers. “My office will be contacting the Department of Corrections to begin to explore methods of re-entry that are more efficient and pose less of a problem,” Reed said. “Considering the efficiency of Web-based job seeking and the fact that there are agencies that specialize in placement of violent offenders, simply ex-
pecting individuals to leave to seek employment by walking through the downtown area is inefficient, and not in the best interest of downtown residents, employees, or those individuals seeking employment.” The city had hoped to displace the facility by building a professional football stadium on the north riverfront. With that plan being a distant memory, and despite the cajoling of civic and political leaders, the state of Missouri maintains that the facility is here to stay. “The department has no plans to close the St. Louis Community Release Center,” David Owen, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said in an email. “The St. Louis Community Release Center provides the Parole Board and Courts with a structured, residential program to better assist and supervise offenders transitioning from prison or a county jail into the community, or offenders who may be at risk of probation, parole or conditional release revocation while under community supervision by a Probation and Parole Office.”
A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD State records show the facility has at least 163 registered sex offenders sleeping under its roof. Typically the men are given day passes to leave and find work. Sometimes they don’t return. In 2014, Shawn Akery, a convicted sex offender, signed out of the facility on a day pass to look for work. He wound up at the Paul Brown lofts in the heart of downtown. Avery took a tour of a 14thfloor vacant unit guided by the loft’s 29-year-old assistant manager. He looked around, opened cabinets, then turned to the woman and said, “One more
thing. We can do this the hard way or the easy way.” He told the woman not to fight him, according to court testimony. The woman told Akery, “You don’t want to do this.” She kneed him in the groin and started to run for the door. He grabbed her and tackled her as she fought back. He threw her to the ground and was on top of her as she screamed. He covered her mouth, trying to muffle the woman’s screams. She kept screaming, and he ran away. He was convicted last month of attempted rape. Akery had been in the Paul Brown Lofts building the day before. He got into the vestibule, apparently trying to gain entry, and a surveillance camera captured an image of him. Ed Postawko, chief warrant officer for the circuit attorney’s office, said having a halfway house with registered sex offenders with day passes to downtown poses a clear problem. “It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “I certainly see the need the Department of Corrections has for a facility with supervised conditions” for criminals to be slowly reintegrated into society. “The concept makes sense,” Postawko said. On the other hand, he said, having a group of such people under one roof with ability to leave during the day, “we’re going to have problems that come up from that.” Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Nicholas J.C. Pistor • 314-436-2239 @nickpistor on Twitter npistor@post-dispatch.com
On Monday, protesters held a demonstration at Ferguson’s municipal court and then marched to Karr’s home. During the Lhotak and Woods trials, Dueker remarked that Chassaing had merely argued that because the defendants had been arrested, they must be guilty. In a press release Thursday, Arch City said that Chassaing’s arguments violated the most fundamental tenet of the country’s legal system: the presumption of innocence. “Without pro-bono representation, I would have been forced to plead guilty to a crime I didn’t commit,” Rose said in the statement. Dueker has yet to rule in two other failure-to-comply cases. These resulted from arrests made during a protest on Aug. 14, 2014, and also were tried in April. Two additional Ferguson failure-to-comply trials are scheduled for next week in St. Louis County. The city has said it is considering appointing an interim prosecutor while it searches for a new one. On Thursday, City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said that decision has yet to be made. For the moment, Karr is listed as the lawyer in the upcoming trials, according to the court files. Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com
Resident set nursing home on fire, authorities say FROM STAFF REPORTS
ALHAMBRA • A resident of the
Hitz Memorial Home here was charged Thursday in Madison County with aggravated arson after telling authorities she set the place on fire because she was angry at the staff. Linda J. Braun, 67, was held in lieu of $250,000 bail. One employee suffered smoke inhalation but no Braun residents were hurt when a fire extensively damaged two rooms and caused smoke and water damage to 13 others about 9 p.m. Wednesday in the home at 201 Belle Street, officials said. The blaze was on the nursing home side of the facility; Braun resided on the independent living side, which was unaffected. Sprinklers put out the fire. Other areas affected include a common room and offices. Ten residents were displaced. The injured employee, a woman, was sickened by smoke during the evacuation and treated at the scene, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said. Officials said Braun called the Illinois State Police shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday to confess. A statement from the sheriff’s office says she told deputies she stated the fire deliberately “because she was angry over staff members trying to boss her around.” It also says she told them she set the fire in an empty room and never intended to hurt anyone. Officials said there was no formal damage estimate but the loss was expected to be “substantial.”
NEWS
A4 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
M 1 • Wednesday • 05.18.2016
Ferguson prosecutors strike out again in protest cases BY STEPHEN DEERE St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON • The private lawyers acting as prosecutors for Ferguson have lost two more protest cases tried in St. Louis County Circuit Court, and this time, they were defeated by second-year St. Louis University law students. In April, Ferguson prosecutors tried five cases involving failure-to-comply charges in St. Louis County Circuit Court. Three rulings were announced last week. On Tuesday, Associate Circuit Judge Joseph S. Dueker found two defendants not guilty. The city of Ferguson — represented by Stephanie Karr, who also serves as city attorney, and her colleague J. Patrick Chassaing — has now lost all five of these cases. In all, three defendants were found not guilty and the judge granted two mo-
tions for judgment of acquittals, meaning that the judge found the evidence so weak the defendants’ guilt could not be considered. For April, the city’s prosecutors — from the law firm Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe — billed Ferguson for $11,251. That brings the total amount of their invoices to more than $40,000 this year. Their bills for all of 2015 were about $60,000 and for 2014 were about $30,000. The rising fees come from trials of people arrested during the protests of 2014 following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. The defendants have been charged with “failure to comply” — a charge the U.S. Justice Department has said Ferguson police often abuse. Tuesday’s not-guilty verdicts came in the cases of Michael Powers and
Meghan Flannery. Both were convicted in Ferguson Municipal Court on failure-to-comply charges and appealed. They agreed to be tried to together. Powers is the legislative director for St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed. Flannery is an employee at St. Louis Alderman Antonio French’s North Campus education center. On Aug. 14, 2014, the two were waiting outside the Ferguson Police Department for French to be released from jail. Confrontations erupted between protesters and police, and Powers and Flannery were taken into custody. Ferguson prosecutors argued that Flannery and Powers ignored police orders to leave the area. During the trial, the pair were represented by Mark Timmerman, 24, and Katherine Landfried,
29, under the direction of John Ammann, supervisor of the St. Louis University Litigation Clinic. A Missouri Supreme Court rule allows law school students who have completed half their hours to represent defendants in court under the direction of a licensed attorney. Landfried and Timmerman contended that the orders were given to protesters farther up the street. It wasn’t clear that the officers’ orders applied to their clients, who were not at the time participating in the protests. “It’s been a very stressful and infuriating process,” Powers said. He said he rejected a plea offer to have his charge amended to littering, because as a public servant, he did not want that on his record. In the aftermath of the unrest, the Justice Department issued a report accusing Ferguson’s police
department and municipal court of numerous constitutional violations and for her role singled out Karr. Karr and Chassaing, however, have continued to prosecute failureto-comply cases, even in instances the Justice Department cited as constitutional infringements, as detailed in a Post-Dispatch story. This month, the city made a move to prevent Karr and others at her firm from acting as prosecutors for the city, publishing an advertisement for a new prosecutor on May 3. Karr will remain city attorney, a position she has held since 2004. City officials said they recognize that having the same person as both city attorney and prosecutor could appear as a conflict of interest. While the search for a replacement is underway, Karr and other Curtis,
Heinz lawyers continue to prosecute failure-to-comply cases. Two are scheduled for trial this week. City Manager De’Carlon Seewood has said it would be unethical for him to tell Karr how to handle the cases, as she is supposed to operate free from political influence. Heather Robinett, who was elected to the Ferguson City Council in April, said she couldn’t comment on any cases because she doesn’t know specifics. But she said Tuesday that she wants limits on the city’s payments to prosecutors. As things stand, prosecutors in Ferguson have no cap on the hours for which they can bill. “Financially, there does need to be parameters set,” Robinett said. Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com
McSpadden on the book circuit Lawmakers pursue provision to let parents sue over inequality SCHOOLS • FROM A1
both poor and racially segregated. That number climbed to 15,089 by 2013 — meaning that 16 percent of the nation’s schools had become segregated. The report also found that 61 percent of schools with high concentrations of poor students were racially segregated, meaning their enrollment was at least three-quarters black or Latino. Latino students, the report found, were often “triple segregated” — isolated by race, income and language. Students in segregated schools had less access to college classes, were disproportionately held back in ninth grade, and faced higher discipline rates than the average public school student, the report shows. Less than half of segregated schools offered Advanced Placement classes. The GAO conclusions were based on federal data. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, requested the report in 2014. He released the findings Tuesday, the 62nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Along with the release of the report, Scott and other House Democrats are introducing legislation they say will “empower parents and communities to address — through robust enforcement — racial inequities in public education,” according to a fact sheet from his office. The Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act would restore parents’ rights to sue segregated school districts using claims of disparate impact under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill would create “Title VI monitors,” who would investigate discrimination complaints under the law, and an assistant secretary of edu-
cation to oversee them. U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. has prioritized the issue, recently telling a gathering of education journalists in Boston that there was a “new urgency” around issues of race and class in school. “The new GAO study confirms what we all suspected — schools are more segregated now than in 2000,” Nancy Zirkind, executive president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement. “These schools and districts are educating a larger share of low-income students and students of color, but compared to their more affluent peers, have minimal access to the educational resources needed to support student success,” Zirkind said. To combat the problem, the GAO recommended that the U.S. Department of Education step up its efforts to monitor the disparities between schools. The Department of Justice, the report recommended, could “track key information on open federal school desegregation cases to which it is a party to better inform monitoring.”
There are currently 178 open desegregation cases based on court orders from 30 or 40 years ago intended to integrate schools. In a response to the report, Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote that King was trying to promote integration through grant programs. “We are committed to using every tool at our disposal to ensure that all students have access to an excellent education,” she wrote. P r e s i d e n t B a ra c k Obama’s latest budget includes a $120 million proposal that encourages socioeconomic diversity. In response, the Justice Department said the GAO has an “erroneous” understanding of its role in the desegregation cases, and that the department already monitors each case. “Segregation … (is) getting worse, and getting worse quickly, with more than 20 million students of color now attending racially and socioeconomically isolated public schools,” Scott said in a statement. “This report is a national call to action, and I intend to ensure Congress is part of the solution.”
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PHOTO BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
Lezley McSpadden (right), the mother of Michael Brown, and book contributor Lyah LeFlore speak about McSpadden’s memoir “Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil” during a book-signing Tuesday at Christ Church Cathedral downtown. McSpadden spoke of why she wrote the book, her fondest memory of her son, and why she supports Hillary Clinton.
05.19.2016 • Thursday • M 2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A3 LOCAL
Ferguson prosecutor dismisses failure-to-comply case BY STEPHEN DEERE St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON • After she and a colleague suffered a recent series of losses in cases linked to the 2014 protests over Michael Brown’s death, Ferguson Prosecutor Stephanie Karr on Wednesday dismissed another defendant’s charge about 40 minutes prior to trial. But, in a lengthy memo, Karr argued that the defendant had “clearly” committed the violation. However, she was declining to prosecute “for rea-
lative director for St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed. All three were arrested and charged with failure to comply, a charge that the U.S. Department of Justice has said Ferguson Police often misuse. The defendants maintained that the officers’ orders were directed at a group of protesters farther down the street. “I’m definitely relieved this process is done,” Peinado said Wednesday. “It has been a frustrating time over the past year and a half.” Powers and Flannery
sons wholly unrelated to the merits of the case.” Karr did not elaborate. The defendant, Elizabeth Peinado, an employee of St. Louis Alderman Antonio French’s North Campus education center, was accused of disregarding orders to leave an area near the Ferguson Police Department, after protesters had clashed with police on Aug. 14, 2014. At the time, Peinado was waiting for French to be released from jail, along with Meghan Flannery, another North Campus employee, and Michael Powers, legis-
were tried together in April. On Tuesday, Associate Circuit Court Judge Joseph S. Dueker found both not guilty. The decisions followed three other acquittals granted by Dueker last week in protest cases involving failure-to-comply charges. Peinado’s case was set for trial at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. She learned about the dismissal at the courthouse while reviewing her case with St. Louis University law students Mark Timmerman and Katherine Landfried. The students planned to repre-
sent her under direction of John Ammann, supervisor of the St. Louis University Litigation Clinic. They also represented Powers and Flannery. In April, Karr and other private lawyers serving as Ferguson’s prosecutors — from the law firm Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe — billed Ferguson for $11,251, bringing the total amount of their invoices to more than $40,000 this year. Their bills for all of 2015 were about $60,000 and $30,000 in 2014. The city is in the process of replacing Karr as
prosecutor. She will retain the position of city attorney. City officials have said having the same person in both roles could be a conflict of interest. City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said he doesn’t give Karr direction about specific cases as she must operate free from political influence. He did not know the nature of the unspecified reasons Karr referenced in her memo for why she was dismissing Peinado’s case, he said. “It makes you ask the question: ‘What’s going on?’” Seewood said.
Trooper kills man who had gun BY VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN St. Louis Post-Dispatch
now through MeMorial Day!
C R AW F O R D CO U N T Y, MO • A Missouri Highway
Patrol trooper shot and killed a man who pulled a gun on him after fleeing a traffic stop near Sullivan on Wednesday, a patrol spokesman said. The incident happened shortly after 5 p.m. in the 1600 block of the South Service Road, about 1½ miles west of Sullivan along Interstate 44, said Sgt. Cody Fulkerson of Troop I of the Missouri Highway Patrol. The trooper stopped a man, 44, in a red Ford Ranger pickup for a traffic violation. The truck stopped, and the trooper got out to talk to the driver, who was alone in the truck. The driver then sped off across the parking lot of the Ditch Witch Groundbreaking company, Fulkerson said. The trooper got back into his car and chased the truck, then the driver jumped out of the stillmoving truck. The man ran and hid behind some sheds behind a private home, and the trooper ran after him. When the man jumped from behind a shed and pulled out a handgun, the trooper shot him in the chest, Fulkerson said. The man was taken to Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan, where he died. The Highway Patrol did not release the man’s name pending notification of family members. He lived in Sullivan, Fulkerson said. The trooper will be on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation by the department’s drug and crime unit. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Department is assisting. The trooper has at least five years of experience, Fulkerson said.
Columbia, Ill., police chief retires FROM STAFF REPORTS
COLUMBIA, ILL. • Police Chief Joe Edwards, a member of the force for 23 years, has retired after being on administrative leave for three months. City adm i n i s t ra tor Jimmy Morani said Wednesday that Edwards and city officials Edwards had agreed not to discuss the matter. Edwards was chief for 12 years. The city will pay Edwards $40,600 in accrued vacation and compensatory time, and $2,171 for two months of health insurance. Mayor Kevin Hutchinson signed the severance agreement on Monday. Edwards had been on paid leave since Feb. 12. The City Council appointed Jerry Paul, former deputy chief, to replace Edwards. Paul has been on the force for 22 years and was deputy during Edwards’ tenure as chief, as well as acting chief during his leave.
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Police say man shot and killed 8-month-old while aiming at wife
LouFest 2016 offers something for everyone with diverse slate of artists PAGE A13
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LAURIE SKRIVAN • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Police investigate the scene where an 8-month-old boy was shot to death about 2 p.m. Tuesday near Riverview Boulevard and Interstate 270. Police said Diata R. Crockett, 34, was aiming for his wife when he shot the boy. Crockett drove off with two of the couple’s older children.
LET’S EAT BY CHRISTINE BYERS AND ASHLEY JOST St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • Two young chil-
MISSING IN ACTION Tarasenko has been way too quiet throughout the Western Conference finals SPORTS
Crockett Has threatened suicide and violence against his family in the past, police say
dren who remained with their father after he allegedly shot their baby sibling to death Tuesday were later found safe — but he remained on the run, police said. The 8-month-old baby boy was killed by his father, Diata R. Crockett, about 2 p.m. Tuesday in a domestic dispute, St. Louis
police said. Crockett, 34, was reported to be “armed and dangerous.” The two children who remained in the car with Crockett after the shooting were dropped off Tuesday afternoon at the home of one of his relatives in Bellefontaine Neighbors, police said. They are Blaze Crockett, 3, and Ryker Crockett, 2. Police were trying to determine whether Diata Crockett or someone else left them there. On Tuesday evening, police
recovered the rented Hyundai Sonata that Crockett had been driving. It was found parked in the 2900 block of Caddiefield Road at the Canfield Green apartments in Ferguson. There did not appear to be a manhunt for Crockett there. Officers left once the car was towed. Police Chief Sam Dotson said that Crockett has threatened suicide and violence against his family in the past.
Blaze
See FATHER • Page A6
Ryker
City can’t shake violent image One suspect turns himself in after fatal carjacking
BY KURT ERICKSON St. Louis Post-Dispatch
BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR AND CHRISTINE BYERS St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TRIAL TO PROCEED Bill Cosby must stand trial on sexual assault charges, a Pennsylvania judge rules
ST. LOUIS • One of two men suspected of killing a young mother in a carjacking, and throwing her baby out of the car, turned himself in to police on Tuesday, a day after the crime brought unwanted attention to a downtown eager to showcase its rejuvenation. Homicide detectives had released surveillance video of what they said were two suspects walking along Washington Avenue on Sunday night moments before Brandi Hill, 21, of O’Fallon, Mo., was shot to death and her preg-
Missouri tax refunds are lagging
turned himself in at Central Patrol on Tuesday morning. Police said they planned to seek charges against the man, a 19-year-old from Belleville,
JEFFER SON CIT Y • Some Missouri taxpayers are waiting more than two months to get their state income tax refunds this year. After reports in February noted the waiting time for a refund check could be as little as a week, the Missouri Department of Revenue now says it could take as long as 10 weeks to get your money back. “We are currently asking taxpayers to allow eight to 10 weeks for the processing of refunds as we are reviewing more returns to ensure fraudulently claimed refunds are not issued,” noted Department of Revenue
See IMAGE • Page A6
See REFUND • Page A6
ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com
A bike patrol police officer looks over a memorial to Brandi Hill on Tuesday at Washington Avenue and 11th Street.
nant passenger dragged from her vehicle. The man who surrendered is believed to be the one seen in the video with a distinctive haircut — and had cut his hair since, a police source said. He
PAGE A18
Blunt calls for resignation of VA secretary • A8
Target of Ferguson protesters resigns BY STEPHEN DEERE AND CHRISTINE BYERS St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Monsanto rejects Bayer bid but leaves door open • A10 Event space owners chosen to redevelop Bevo Mill • A10 Wacha allows 8 runs over 4 innings in loss to Cubs • B1
FERGUSON • City Attorney Stepha-
Karr Officials were removing her as city prosecutor
nie Karr left no doubt about the extent of her influence. In fact, she illustrated it with detailed invoices submitted each
month. The bills document conference calls with the mayor, the drafting of news releases and talking points, correspondence with national news outlets, memorandums to the city clerk about records requests, and hours upon hours spent in closed
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85°/71° SCATTERED STORMS
TOMORROW
88°/71° STORMS POSSIBLE
WEATHER A18
POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD ®
See KARR • Page A7
Ferguson’s stubborn city attorney finally gives in • Editorial, A14
1 M Vol. 138, No. 146 ©2016
BommaritoAudiWestCounty.com OP 24 E /7 N
05.25.2016 • Wednesday • M 1 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A7 LOCAL
Karr was legal counsel during height of upheaval meetings with the City Council. On Monday, Karr resigned, saying in a letter that the decision “is mine alone.” Three weeks ago, city officials revealed that they were removing her as city prosecutor, her other role with the city. As Karr guided Ferguson through the intense scrutiny after Michael Brown’s death in 2014 and the mass demonstrations it inspired, she watched other influential figures at City Hall — the police chief, the city manager, the judge — capitulate to calls for their resignations. Until recently, city leaders gave no hint that Karr’s job might be in jeopardy, despite pointed criticism of her in a Department of Justice report published last year. The report included the accusation that she engaged in “retaliatory conduct” against lawyers who challenged the city. Karr’s grip seemed to weaken this year, as she made one decision after another that provoked outcry. She was the target of protests, accompanied by signs demanding that Ferguson “Stop the Karr-uption.” “It is with a heavy heart that I provide this notice; however, it is in the best interest of me, my family and the City,” she wrote. It was the latest in a series of exits of city officials. The city is searching for a city clerk, a municipal court judge, a planning and zoning director and, now, a prosecutor and city attorney. Those vacancies came at a critical time. The city is attempting to enact the terms of a far-reaching agreement with the Justice Department to reform police and
DAVID CARSON • P-D
Ferguson City Attorney Stephanie Karr talks about the proposed consent decree between Ferguson and the U.S. Department of Justice during a meeting of the Ferguson City Council in February.
court practices. City leaders are in talks with the federal government about selecting a monitor to oversee that process. Ferguson City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said the city had not asked for Karr’s resignation, adding that it surprised him. “I saw her stepping away from the prosecuting attorney position and that would allow her to spend a little bit more time as city attorney,” Seewood said. He said employees were taking on additional duties because of all the vacancies. In her letter, Karr pledged to continue working for the city until her successor was in place “so that the City will not be without legal representation for any period of time.” She declined to comment further. Over the past several months Karr has refrained from explaining decisions
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consider guilt. Karr did not have a contract as prosecutor, but as city attorney, she worked under a 2006 agreement between Ferguson and her law firm. Ferguson City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said Tuesday that the city would soon advertise for a new city attorney. He said lawyers from Curtis, Heinz could apply, along with others. To Tony Rice, a member of the Ferguson-based activist group Ground Level Support, it appeared that Karr wanted to punish protesters no matter the cost. “It looked like she decided to play a zero-sum game,” Rice said. “It was her against the protest community. She was all in.” Rice said Karr’s resignation proved that the demonstrations were effective. “Voting didn’t get rid of her,” Rice said. “It was the pressure.” Last week, Karr dropped a failure-tocomply case, stemming from the 2014 protests, 40 minutes before the scheduled trial. In a lengthy memo, she insisted the defendant had “clearly” committed the violation. However, she was not prosecuting “for reasons wholly unrelated to the merits of the case.” Once again, she did not elaborate. Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com Christine Byers • 314-340-8087 @ChristineDByers on Twitter cbyers@post-dispatch.com
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deemed questionable by her critics and others. In January, the City Council voted 3-2 to appoint Laverne Mitchom, a retired educator who attended some protests, to a vacant council seat. Karr essentially blocked the appointment when she said four votes were needed. She did not provide a public explanation for her advice except to say it was based on case history. At the time, Ferguson was considering whether to approve an agreement with the Justice Department to settle a lawsuit. The council eventually agreed unanimously to appoint Mitchom, who provided the crucial vote to put the agreement back on the council’s agenda. The agreement was approved in March. Karr continued to prosecute cases the Justice Department had cited as constitutional violations. In the process, she and her colleagues at Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe — the area’s largest municipal firm — billed significant legal expenses, including more than $40,000 in prosecutor fees in the first four months of 2016. Those fees resulted largely from trials stemming from the 2014 protests in which defendants were charged with “failure to comply,” a charge the Justice Department has accused the city of abusing. In the past few weeks, St. Louis County Associate Circuit Court Judge Joseph Dueker acquitted five defendants tried in April. In two of those cases, Dueker took the unusual step of granting motions for judgment of acquittals, meaning that there was not enough evidence to even
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