Missouri lawmakers quit early; deadly force bill fails

State Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, carries stacks of papers from his desk off the Senate floor after the body adjured early, Friday, May 15, 2015, in Jefferson City, Mo. Conceding that nothing more could be accomplished, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard moved that the Senate adjourn nearly three hours ahead of the 6 p.m. deadline and after days of Senate Democrats stalling work to demonstrate their frustration over Republican passage of a bill limiting union powers earlier this week.
State Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, carries stacks of papers from his desk off the Senate floor after the body adjured early, Friday, May 15, 2015, in Jefferson City, Mo. Conceding that nothing more could be accomplished, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard moved that the Senate adjourn nearly three hours ahead of the 6 p.m. deadline and after days of Senate Democrats stalling work to demonstrate their frustration over Republican passage of a bill limiting union powers earlier this week.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri lawmakers concluded a tumultuous annual session Friday, ending their work ahead of a deadline while failing to pass a bill rewriting the state's deadly force standards for police in response to last summer's fatal shooting in Ferguson.

The House quit about 10 minutes early, and the Senate nearly three hours ahead of the mandatory 6 p.m. adjournment - conceding that there was nothing further they could pass because of partisan divisions.

Democrats stalled virtually all Senate action as show of displeasure after the Republican majority used a rare procedural motion to shut off debate and force a vote earlier this week on a right-to-work bill barring the mandatory collection of union fees.

Democrats briefly relented Friday to allow final approval of a bill reauthorizing $3.6 billion of annual health care provider taxes for the state's Medicaid program. But that was the only bill they let come to a vote.

Meanwhile, the House spent its final day voting to send 31 measures to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, often stripping off their own amendments to avoid needing to send the bills back to the clogged-up Senate.

But the House had its own drama, ending the day with a different leader than it began with.

House Speaker John Diehl resigned Friday morning, two days after a news report that he had exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with a Capitol intern. House Majority Leader Todd Richardson then was elected by colleagues to take over for Diehl, and pledged to get the chamber back to its businesses of passing bills.

One of the bills that died Friday would have redefined when police can use deadly force - a response to the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black, by a white Ferguson police officer.

The House passed the bill earlier Friday, but because it made changes to a version previously passed by the Senate, the bill needed one final vote from senators, which did not occur.

Democratic Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, who represents Ferguson, denounced her colleagues for creating a "fiasco" that she described as "an embarrassment to this nation."

"Now, any person in my district can be killed (by police) and, still, the person who killed them doesn't have to be prosecuted," said Chappelle-Nadal, who participated in protests after Brown's Aug. 9 death. "All I ask is for is the opportunity to have the deadly force bill passed."

In November, a state grand jury decided not to charge former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson for shooting Brown, and a U.S. Justice Department report released in March determined Wilson acted in self-defense.

Current Missouri law allows the use of deadly force when an officer believes a suspect has committed or attempted a felony, is escaping with a deadly weapon or poses a serious threat to others. Legislators have acknowledged that the law probably is too broad and conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

The House-passed bill would have changed Missouri's standard to justify deadly force only when officers reasonably believe a suspect committed or attempted a felony inflicting or threatening serious physical injury, has a deadly weapon or poses a serious threat to others. It also would have required the force be "objectively reasonable" when considering the situation.


Associated Press writer Marie French contributed to this report.