St. Louis Observer: February 25, 2022
Absentee voting for municipal elections now open; Cops & Clinicians saved lives, millions in public funds in 2021; City tenants' bill of rights moves forward
Editor’s Note
This week’s note is an excerpt from “Righting Wrongful Convictions: the Fight for #MOInnocence,” by ML Smith1
There is a trope that everyone in prison claims to be innocent, and we understand that this isn’t the case, yet on the same note, society as a whole does not understand the significant prevalence of innocent people being wrongfully convicted and unjustly incarcerated. If a person who is guilty has a difficult time being locked away in appalling conditions, can you imagine how people who are innocent feel? Theirs is a deeply set anguish on top of merely having to navigate the environment of penal institutions.
Within most prisons, people are expected to work; in all prisons, people are expected to behave in a decent way. How grueling is it, then, to be expected to focus on a task and remain cordial while your spirit is screaming of your innocence? You can’t have regular breakdowns; you have to live, to stay mentally and emotionally stable, to keep pushing daily, to keep fighting daily, in hopes that one day, someone with power on the outside finally will see you and will care enough to begin to fight for you. The existence of an innocent person stolen from their home and put in a cement-walled, steel-barred cell within a place of chaos and control, is one that most people cannot fathom and wouldn’t wish upon their worst adversary.
The wrongful conviction of innocent people is a systemic failure of justice and an ingrained reality within the criminal legal system. This phenomenon is not a quirk of the legal system that occurs sparingly, but a common outcome of a biased and inequitable court system.
Many people will question how this happens, how could a system that is ‘meant’ to mete out justice, get it so wrong. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., once said “This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.” This statement lays bare the reality that our legal system was not created and is not run on the premise of justice, but what is determined to be legal – or in accordance with the law.
In the News
Police, prosecutorial, and judicial accountability
The City’s two-prong approach to divert mental health crisis calls to appropriate first responders has saved around $2.6 million in the first eight months of operation. The Cops & Clinicians program and 911 diversion program helped to divert approximately 5,000 calls from over-policing and over-hospitalizations. [St. Louis Public Radio/Rachel Lippmann]
Alderman Brandon Bosley (Ward 3) has introduced a bill that would require SLMPD officers to repay the City for police academy costs if they leave the department within four years. Board Bill 195 seeks to address the nearly 60% increase in officer departures, which include both an increase in retirements and younger officers leaving for the municipal departments of St. Louis County. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Erin Heffernan]
An independent monitor has alerted the federal court that the Ferguson Police Department currently faces “an extreme staffing shortage,” operating at approximately 65% capacity. The city is currently working with Lincoln University to establish a police academy, the country’s first law enforcement training program at a historically Black college or university (HBCU). [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Katie Kull]
The St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA) has announced that its board members voted not to renew the union’s contract with business manager Jeff Roorda. Roorda remains employed by SLPOA and it is unclear whether he will remain employed in any capacity with the union after his employment contract expires in April. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Erin Heffernan]
A St. Louis County associate circuit court judge has ruled that SLPOA can represent prosecuting attorneys and investigators in Prosecutor Wesley Bell’s office. Bell previously voiced his opposition to his attorneys and staff joining the police union because of the blatant conflict of interest caused by frequent work with police officers who also are represented by the union. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Robert Patrick and Joel Currier]
Local, statewide legislative updates
Ald. Bosley’s reparations bill met a significant roadblock during yesterday’s Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee meeting, when the bill’s lack of logistics, a defined process, or any of the necessary details required for a municipal program that handles public dollars. Most aldermen at the meeting expressed their support of the nature of the bill but stated their objection to its incompleteness. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Mark Schlinkmann]
Missouri is on track to become only the 7th state to recognize Black History Month, as proposed in Rep. Mark Sharp’s (D-Kansas City) HB 2627. Sharp’s companion bill, HB 2689, would further require Black History Month to be recognized and taught in every Missouri public school. [Missouri Independent/Rebecca Rivas]
A clerical error in a proposed amendment to clarify Missouri’s harsh drug sentencing laws will result in the lost chance to provide legal footing for eligible persons to restore parole eligibility for certain drug offenses under a now-repealed law that no longer exists. The mandatory minimum sentencing law for “prior and persistent” drug offenders was repealed in 2017 but failed to include a retroactive provision that covered sentences from 1989 to 2017. Rep. Cheri Toalson-Reisch had sought to amend the bill, but a state senate drafter inadvertently removed the amendment from the final text of the bill, which was ultimately passed and costing thousands of Missourians sentenced up to life for nonviolent offenses even more of their lives. [Riverfront Times/Danny Wicentowski]
Further reading
Absentee voting is open for this spring’s municipal and special elections. Votes for the St. Louis City municipal election, scheduled for April 5, can be cast Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Board of Election Commissioners, 300 N. Tucker Street. Proposition R, which would bring some ethics reform to the Board of Alderman and other City elections, is one of the ballot measures before City voters. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Staff reports]
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ office has announced an aggressive re-housing and development plan, aiming to re-house 800 individuals and construct 500 new units of affordable housing by end of 2022. Twenty million federal dollars provided under the White House’s House American initiative and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will go toward both housing and wraparound services for City residents. [St. Louis American/Staff]
Dozens of tenants and housing advocates gathered at a "renters’ town hall” this week to discuss a tenants’ bill of rights and current issues within St. Louis’ rental housing stock. Many residents aired their grievances with non-responsive landlords who refuse to make required repairs, oftentimes while in violation of City habitability codes, but will still demand rent money. [St. Louis American/Karen Robinson-Jacobs]
More than 6,000 direct cash assistance payments of $500 have been distributed to St. Louis City residents, with the vast majority of those funds going toward groceries, utilities, and other life essentials. The program will remain in place until funding for the remaining 9,300 available assistance payments is exhausted. [St. Louis American/Staff]
The Missouri Historical Society has released some of the life stories of the women who filed behind the Freedom Suits, including Harriet Robinson Scott, the Scypion sisters, who fought 30 years in court for their freedom, and Polly Walsh, whose freedom suit freed herself and her daughter. [St. Louis American/Missouri Historical Society]
Legislative & Legal Update
City of St. Louis
BB 119 and BB 125, both introduced by Ald. Todd and Ald. Ingrassia (Ward 6), would repeal the City’s current loitering & panhandling ordinances and establish legal defenses against the charges. These bills have been stalled in the Public Safety Committee since November 16, 2021, with no forward movement.
BB 150, introduced by Ald. Ingrassia, would establish legal and property rights of unhoused residents living in St. Louis. After more than two months of stalling, this bill has been referred to the Health and Human Services Committee and will be discussed at the committee meeting on February 28.
BB 184, introduced by Ald. Tom Oldenburg (Ward 16), would re-allocate nearly $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) COVID relief funds to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for equipment and weapons. The bill was read for a second time in the Ways & Means Committee meeting on February 18 and amended.
BB 195, introduced by Ald. Bosley, would require new SLMPD officers to stay with the department for a minimum of four years, or risk having to repay for the cost of training if the officer leaves for another law enforcement job. The bill text was read for the first time and assigned to the Public Safety Committee on February 18.
BB 206, introduced by Ald. Oldenburg, would re-fund the Real-Time Crime Center using Corona Virus Local Fiscal Recover Funds originally allocated to cover SLMPD officer overtime expenses. The bill was assigned to the Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning (HUDZ) committee on February 18 and is scheduled for its first committee hearing on March 1.
BB 208, introduced by Ald. Bosley, seeks to establish a Reparations Fund to support the significant others and children of St. Louis City residents who are incarcerated. The bill was discussed in HUDZ Committee on February 24 and will be discussed further in committee on March 1.
Resolution 159, sponsored by Aldermen Sharon Tyus (Ward 1), Jeffrey Boyd (Ward 22), and Pamela Boyd (Ward 27), would resolve that any new or expanded facility for unhoused persons be constructed in the wards that do not already have facilities. This resolution was assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee on January 14 with no forward movement.
State of Missouri
HJR 79, introduced by nine white Republican men, would detrimentally modify the citizen initiative petition process for statewide ballot initiatives, raising the minimum required number of signatures from 5% to 10%, and would require 2/3 vote to pass an initiative instead of the current simple majority. The resolution was passed by the Missouri House and now moves to the Senate.
HB 1897, introduced by Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins (D-St. Louis), would establish a Corrections Nursery Program, to keep incarcerated mothers and their infants together. This bill was placed on the Informal Perfection Calendar on February 23 and continues to make forward progress.
HB 2627, introduced by Reps. Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City), Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson), and Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin), would designate February as Black History Month and November as “Native American Heritage Month” in Missouri. The bill is scheduled for hearing on March 1.
SJR 36, introduced by Sen. John Rizzo (D-Kansas City), would modify the current legislative term limits for Missouri state representatives and senators, from 8 years to 12 years. The bill is scheduled for public hearing on March 1.
SB 766, introduced by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-Parkville), would modify the holding period from 24 hours to 48 hours following an arrest without a warrant. This bill was passed out of the Judiciary Committee on January 31.
Quote of the Week
Hundreds of thousands of Missourians rely on SNAP to feed their families every month. It is inexcusable that individuals who are struggling to make ends meet face additional barriers enrolling in SNAP because of Missouri’s Department of Social Services.
Mallory Rusch, Executive Director, Empower Missouri, on the organization’s lawsuit with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri against the State Department of Social Services.
Read ML’s entire op-ed here, exclusively to the St. Louis Observer: https://stlobserver.substack.com/p/righting-wrongful-convictions