McNeal still married, still in prison

After more than four years - and 31 pages of Supreme and appeals court opinions - John William McNeal still is married.
Last week, the state appeals court in Kansas City ruled McNeal's original petition for dissolving his marriage had not included all the information required to be a proper filing.
McNeal has bee an inmate at the Jefferson City Correctional Center since December 2005, and both the appeals court and the state Supreme Court have dealt with issues surrounding the handling of his divorce case since he filed it.
McNeal, now 62, is serving four life sentences, plus two 30-year sentences, for two first-degree murder convictions, a second-degree murder conviction and three armed criminal action convictions.
He married Sylvia Ruth Sydnor in 2006, after he had been transferred to JCCC from the Potosi Correctional Center.
But, the appeals court panel noted in last week's ruling, "After more than six years of marriage with no contact from his wife, McNeal filed his Petition (for divorce) on April 25, 2012, alleging abandonment and theft of his disability checks."
McNeal lost his hearing while serving in the armed forces, and his divorce petition reported he received $2,800 per month in disability from the Veterans Administration.
The appeals court noted McNeal "made clear to the court that he had a permanent hearing disability and needed an interpreter to verbally communicate."
McNeal told the Jackson County Circuit Court his wife received "all of (his) disability checks during the time of the marriage and has failed to deposit any monies into (his) prison account."
Appeals court and Supreme Court rulings note a number of procedural steps in the McNeal divorce case, including failures by McNeal-Sydnor's attorney and the circuit court to respond to various motions or requests McNeal made.
McNeal asked to be allowed to attend the hearings on his divorce case, either in person or by video, but the circuit court never answered those motions, the appeals and Supreme Courts both noted.
Ultimately, the trial court dismissed McNeal's divorce case, and he appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing two laws affecting inmates' ability to go to court "are unconstitutional because these statutes do not grant prisoners an unconditional right to be present in court to litigate civil actions to which the prisoner is a party."
McNeal argued the circuit court had dismissed the case because he didn't attend the hearing.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, then transferred it to the appeals court, ruling only that McNeal didn't show a constitutional violation that automatically must be heard by the high court.
Judge Gary Witt wrote the appeals court opinion, agreeing with McNeal that Missouri law and court rulings "have specifically held that while a prisoner has no absolute right to appear in person at the courthouse," as long as the inmate can use alternative methods to access the courts.
But McNeal failed to file a valid lawsuit, Witt wrote.
Witt noted divorce petitions must include information about where each party lives, and for how long; the date and place of the marriage; the date when the parties separated; the names and ages of each child from the marriage; whether the wife is pregnant; and the last four digits of the Social Security numbers for the couple and each child.
The court found McNeal never told the circuit court where he and McNeal-Sydnor live, the length of time either has lived in the state and whether McNeal-Sydnor was pregnant when the divorce petition was filed.
"While certainly these deficiencies in the Petition may appear minor, they affect both the jurisdiction of the trial court to hear the case and what, if any, issues must be addressed regarding child custody," Witt wrote.
So, the appeals court ruled, McNeal should file a new divorce petition that includes all the required information, and then proceed with his case.