A young woman stepped up to the microphone in a St. Louis convention room Thursday and with a quick question illustrated what a panel of legal leaders had been opining about for more than an hour. A formal discussion on ...

Tagged with: Cathy Kelly Melissa Pantazopoulos Missouri's Public Defender System Wendy Werner

An appeals court has struck down a rule allowing the Missouri Public Defender Commission to stop taking certain cases to reduce its offices’ workloads. The demise of the rule places additional importance on a bill pending in the Missouri Legislature ...

Tagged with: Boone County Cathy Kelly Gary Oxenhandler Gene Hamilton Jacqueline Pickrell Kevin O'Brien Mark Lobdell Missouri Court of Appeals Missouri Public Defender Commission prosecutor Stephanie Morrell Supreme Court Western District

State Rep. Bryan Stevenson might have removed the biggest obstacle in the way of legislation meant to relieve the caseload crunch for the state's public defender system: himself. Stevenson, a Webb City Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, made the somewhat unusual move of asking for Sen. Jack Goodman's legislation to be sent away from his committee. The legislation was re-directed to the House General Laws Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Tim Jones, R-Eureka (pictured left).

Tagged with: Bryan Stevenson Cathy Kelly House Judiciary Committee Jack Goodman Ron Richard Tim Jones

Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday reacted negatively to a legislative proposal allowing the state’s Public Defender Commission to establish a maximum case threshold. In his first news conference since he was sworn in as Missouri’s governor, Nixon was cool to ...

Tagged with: Cathy Kelly Jack Goodman Jay Nixon public defender threshold