Tag: missouri

Exonerated Missouri woman sues police for conspiracy and coverup that put her in prison for 43 years

Sandra Hemme’s federal lawsuit accuses St. Joseph Police of suppressing and destroying evidence that pointed to a fellow officer who was guilty of the 1980 murder. Before being freed last year, Hemme served the longest sentence of any wrongly convicted woman in American history.

Sandra Hemme, the Missouri woman who spent 43 years in prison for a murder she did not commit, has sued the city of St. Joseph and eight police officers in a 10-count federal lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution, a coerced confession and conspiracy.

“There was never any objective evidence tying Plaintiff (Hemme) to the crime,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also points the finger at a former police officer, Michael Holman, as the killer of librarian Patricia Jeschke in 1980.

“To protect Holman, the Defendants concealed evidence of his guilt and chose not to follow the evidence leading to Holman,” according to the lawsuit. Holman died in 2015.

Hemme served the longest sentence of any wrongly convicted woman in American history, her lawyers have said. She was finally exonerated and freed last year after a lengthy legal battle that saw the Missouri Attorney General fighting to overturn her innocence ruling.

A year ago, in July 2024, Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Horsman overturned Hemme’s conviction — writing that she was “the victim of a manifest injustice.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey battled all the way to the state Supreme Court to keep Hemme in prison. She won her final freedom after the Missouri Court of Appeals rejected all of Bailey’s arguments, and in March the Buchanan County prosecutor declined to refile charges.

Keep reading

“There’s No Nothing”: Empty Shelves, Rotten Odors Plague Gov’t-Funded Supermarket In Missouri

One of the dozen or so socialist policy proposals from NYC Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is the creation of government-funded grocery stores.

While the Democratic Party increasingly embraces socialist and Marxist-leaning policies, such as the seizure of private property, this idea of government-funded grocery stores appears disconnected from both fundamental economic realities and historical precedent.

Nowhere is this more evident than in East Kansas City, where a nonprofit operates a grocery store on government land that has become a symbol of failure, plagued by the smell of rot and empty shelves.

Local media outlet KSHB 41 Kansas City toured Sun Fresh Market at 3110 Wabash Ave (31st & Prospect) on the city’s Eastside. The store opened in 2018 as part of a multi-million dollar public-private revitalization of the Linwood Shopping Center. Operated by Community Builders of Kansas City, a nonprofit focused on urban development, the store has since become a massive reminder that while socialism may sound great on paper, in practice, it can be an absolute disaster. 

KSHB 41’s Alyssa Jackson reported that her news team received a tip from a viewer about empty shelves throughout the dairy section, meat department, bakery aisle, and deli counter.

Keep reading

Missouri Police Officer Shoots, Kills Blind & Deaf Dog …Community Outraged

A police officer in Missouri shot and killed a blind and deaf dog this week … and while the department’s saying the cop feared contracting rabies — the community’s calling BS.

Teddy — a five-year-old, 13-pound shih tzu mix was killed in Sturgeon, Missouri after escaping his yard. The owner gave the dog some water and called the police … who The Washington Post reports shot the dog twice within minutes of arriving.

Check out the body cam footage … little Teddy’s running around the field — away from the officer at first before turning around and moving toward him, though not seemingly in an aggressive way.

Keep reading

Kansas City poured millions into a grocery store. It still may close.

It was the lone tomato in the produce bin that nearly made Marquita Taylor weep.

She’d stopped in her neighborhood grocery store, the place that was cause for celebration when it opened seven years ago. Area residents had long lived without a decent supermarket on Kansas City’s east side, and KC Sun Fresh was the city’s attempt to alleviate a lack of access to healthy food in its urban center.

But the store, in a city-owned strip mall, is on the verge of closure. Customers say they are increasingly afraid to shop there — even with visible police patrols — because of drug dealing, theft and vagrancy both inside and outside the store and the public library across the street.

KC Sun Fresh lost $885,000 last year and now has only about 4,000 shoppers a week. That’s down from 14,000 a few years ago, according to Emmet Pierson Jr., who leads Community Builders of Kansas City, the nonprofit that leases the site from the city. Despite a recent $750,000 cash infusion from the city, the shelves are almost bare.

“We’re in a dire situation,” Pierson said.

As grocery prices continue to climb and 7 million Americans face losing federal food assistance, more cities and states across the country — in Illinois, Georgia and Wisconsin — are experimenting with the concept of publicly supported grocery stores as a way to help provide for low-income neighborhoods.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has attracted attention for his campaign pledge to combat “out-of-control” prices by establishing five city-owned supermarkets that he says will pass savings onto customers by operating “without a profit motive.”

Yet these experiments, like the one in Kansas City, often don’t account for social issues that can make success even more challenging. Critics say the efforts are unrealistic regardless because grocery stores have such slim profit margins and struggle to compete with the prices offered by big-box chains like Walmart. High-profile projects have failed in recent months in Florida and Massachusetts.

“Running a grocery store is a difficult business,” said Doug Rauch, a former Trader Joe’s president who founded a chain of low-cost stores in the Boston area that shuttered in May. “You can have religion about the mission, but if you don’t have vast experience and knowledge about how to run these operations, you’re really going to be in trouble.”

Keep reading

Missouri Marijuana Officials Are Reviewing Rules On Purchase Limits For Medical Patients

Cannabis advocacy organizations are sounding the alarm about guidance from state regulators limiting how much medical marijuana patients can purchase from licensed dispensaries.

By law, dispensaries are required to track how much medical marijuana patients buy so they don’t exceed their limit.

According to a FAQ that was added earlier this year to the website of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the state’s cannabis regulatory agency, if patients reach their limit they are not legally allowed to buy marijuana like as a recreational consumer.

“…patient ID card holders are not allowed to purchase as a consumer in a licensed dispensary,” the website states. “These regulations help ensure patients and consumers stay within their allowed possession limits.”

In general, medical patients are limited to a 6-ounce allotment of dried, unprocessed marijuana every 30 days. Recreational consumers are allowed to purchase up to 3 ounces every day—but can’t possess more than 3 ounces.

The state is prohibited by law from tracking the purchases of people who don’t have patient ID cards without their permission.

Andrew Mullins, executive director of the Missouri Marijuana Trade Association, sent a letter to leaders of the Division of Cannabis Regulation in April claiming the policy is unconstitutional.

“We believe that DCR’s interpretation that a Missourian must either be an adult-use consumer or a medical patient is neither good public policy nor a constitutionally sound interpretation,” he wrote.

Keep reading

Missouri governor activates National Guard, declares state of emergency

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) on Thursday declared a state of emergency and activated the state’s National Guard in anticipation of protests across the state — and in response to “civil unrest” across the country.

Missouri Executive Order 25-25 declares a State of Emergency and allows the Adjutant General to order service members to aid state officials.

The order comes after the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri National Guard and Missouri Department of Public Safety established a Unified Command to monitor situations across the state and prepare local law enforcement.

Additionally, the order also declares that the Adjutant General may employ necessary equipment to support authorities and provide assistance.

While nationwide protests continue to flare up in response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Kehoe said his order is purely precautionary.

“We respect, and will defend, the right to peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence or lawlessness in our state,” the governor said.

“While other states may wait for chaos to ensue, the State of Missouri is taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting our citizens and communities,” he added.

To read Kehoe’s full order, click here.

Keep reading

Missouri AG Sends Cease And Desist Letters To 18 Hemp Companies, Warning More Are On The Way

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has sent several cease-and-desist letters to companies selling a hemp product called THCA flower that looks exactly like marijuana flower sold at dispensaries.

Bailey’s letters threaten legal action, including injunctions, civil penalties and attorney’s fees if the companies continue to sell the products.

“When purchasing products, Missourians deserve to know if they are being exposed to dangerous side effects like psychotic episodes, hallucinations or other life-threatening risks,” said Attorney General Bailey in a statement to The Independent. “We have issued 18 cease and desist letters so far, and more are forthcoming.”

Cannabis lobbyist Eapen Thampy said about a dozen smoke shops in St. Louis received the letters, and in some cases, THCA flower makes up 60 percent to 80 percent of the companies’ inventories.

Thampy said he’s working with the companies to put together a response to the letters and preparing for potential litigation.

The action is the first major move since Bailey created a new specialized unit last fall, with the aim to assist the state’s alcohol and tobacco regulators in cracking down on intoxicating hemp products.

In September, Bailey vowed his new unit would work with the Missouri Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Division to bring legal action against licensees selling unregulated psychoactive cannabis products that violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

“The ATC will assist by making its investigators available as witnesses for legal proceedings resulting from actionable referrals,” Bailey said in September. “Our enforcement toolkit will be robust from cease-and-desist letters and investigations to subpoenas and lawsuits to referrals for criminal prosecution where appropriate.”

The letters that went out last month state that the companies are “directed to cease and desist from selling” hemp products that contain more than 0.3 percent THCA on a dry weight basis. THCA is a naturally abundant cannabinoid that transforms into Delta-9 THC when smoked or heated.

However, this is not what an official cease and desist order looks like, said Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield.

“It is an informal cease and desist,” Hatfield said. “It is not a letter that has the force and effect of law. It’s more in the nature of a request to stop.”

Under state law, if Bailey wanted to issue an official cease and desist order—as he did for Planned Parenthood in March—Hatfield said Bailey would have to issue a notice of intent first. The company would have the right to appeal through an administrative hearing, as well as challenge the order in court.

“But he hasn’t done any of that,” Hatfield said.

Bailey could also file a lawsuit under Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, and that doesn’t require a cease and desist order, he said.

Keep reading

FBI Recruiting Weekend: Patriot Front Fed Group Resurfaces in Kansas City, MO 

Suspected FBI front group, Patriot Front, made headlines again on Saturday afternoon when they appeared at Kansas City, Missouri’s Liberty Memorial Museum.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the organization as “a white nationalist hate group” to make conservatives seem radical.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, charges were dropped against the Patriot Front group leader in Idaho after 22 duped recruits were found guilty in court.

In June 2022, 31 members of the Patriot Front group were arrested in Idaho for planning a protest at the Gay Pride rally.

They were traveling to a gay pride event with homemade shields in the back of a U-Haul. They had no other weapons. Despite committing no violence, they were arrested because they possibly could have. Law enforcement in Idaho later admitted they had informants inside the Patriot Front group before the arrests were made.

Since the Patriot front group first appeared, The Gateway Pundit has always suspected they had links to the Feds. We were convinced federal agents infiltrated the group.

The Patriot Front group founder, Thomas Rousseau, first made headlines in 2017 when he participated in the famous Tiki Torch march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now, he is the leader of the Patriot Front.

It looks like Rousseau was leading the group on Saturday, saying to a camera, “Patriot Front is here in Kansas City, Missouri. In honor of Memorial Day, we are here at the National World War I Museum and Memorial to give a speech and to demonstrate our ideals to the country and the world.

Members are seen marching behind him in a military-like formation with various flags, wearing khaki pants, navy blue shirts, white masks, and tan baseball caps, and chanting, “Reclaim America.”

Keep reading

‘No trace of alcohol’: Police thought Amazon worker’s stroke was a DWI, then threw him in jail for 7 hours and caused him to go blind, lawsuit says

A Missouri man who was wrongly arrested for DWI while he was exhibiting symptoms of a stroke is suing the sheriff’s office for not getting him the medical treatment he needed.

In a complaint filed in federal court in April, Paul Espinosa, 54, claimed that while he was arriving at the parking lot of the Amazon Warehouse in Republic, Missouri, where he worked, he was pulled over by Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Winchell. Winchell claimed that Espinosa’s car was “weaving,” and the deputy suspected he was driving while intoxicated. Espinosa agreed to a field sobriety test, including a Breathalyzer test, which yielded a reading of 0.000% — indicating there was “no trace of alcohol in his system,” the lawsuit states.

However, Espinosa showed signs of “swaying” during other parts of the test, and Winchell arrested Espinosa on suspicion of DWI. Espinosa was put in the back of Winchell’s vehicle and transported to the jail. Espinosa began “sweating profusely” during the transport, despite the car’s air conditioning running throughout the trip. Upon their arrival at the jail, Espinosa’s “motor skills were declining,” the lawsuit states.

Keep reading

Black female mayor unleashes on white voters after being booted from office

A Missouri mayor publicly criticized her white voters, accusing them of turning their backs on Black women in leadership after voting her out in favor of a new, white candidate.

Tishaura Jones, the former St. Louis mayor, suffered a staggering 28-point defeat to Mayor Cara Spencer last month, marking one of the worst losses for an existing mayor in the city’s last 50 years, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

However, the 53-year-old politician blamed her loss to racial bias amongst her voters, accusing them of booting her from office because she is Black.

‘I think St. Louis needs to have a conversation with itself about why it no longer trusts Black women to lead,’ Jones said in an interview with St. Louis Public Radio on Thursday.

‘My dad always told me – and it’s an old phrase – that Black women have to work twice as hard to get half as much,’ she added.

‘Well, I feel like we work five times as hard and get nothing in return.’

Just four years ago, voters from St. Louis’s north side and its white progressive neighborhoods rallied behind Jones, propelling her into the mayor’s office.

Fast forward to last month’s re-election, and Jones’ voter base had ultimately crumbled – white progressive neighborhoods that once championed her shifted their support to Spencer, the very candidate Jones defeated in 2021.

Explanations for the shift varied – disappointment in her activist base, missteps with grant programs, etc. 

However, voters on both the north and south sides repeatedly voiced frustration with Jones’ handling of basic city services – from trash pickup to pothole repairs – as well as her response to the massive snowstorm that hit the state in January.

What may have swayed voters was Spencer’s straightforward yet resonant promise to St. Louis: a swift return ‘back to basics’, Post-Dispatch reported.

Yet Jones believes that even her Black voter base on the north side turned away from her, claiming they held unrealistic expectations during her four years in office.

Keep reading