The decision to revoke Anthony Piercy's law enforcement officer license will have to be rewritten to incorporate rationale for the decision, and it will be up to the current Missouri Department of Public Safety director whether that should involve having a new hearing for Piercy, a Cole County judge ruled Thursday.
Cole County Judge Dan Green ruled the order by former Public Safety Director Drew Juden to revoke Piercy's license on July 16 last year did not contain sufficient reasoning for that decision, which was the argument put forward by Piercy's attorneys Tim Van Ronzelen and Shelly Kintzel.
Green ruled Public Safety Director Sandra Karsten will have the option to have a new hearing for Piercy or to review the transcripts of the previous hearing in her rewriting of Juden's order.
Piercy is a veteran Missouri Highway Patrol road trooper who, in 2013, was cross-trained for water patrol duties after the 2011 merger of the state's Highway and Water patrols.
On May 31, 2014, Piercy arrested Brandon Ellingson, 19, of Clive, Iowa, for boating while intoxicated on the Lake of the Ozarks.
While taking Ellingson to the zone office to complete the testing required for the BWI charge, Piercy's boat hit a wake and Ellingson fell into the lake.
Piercy had placed the wrong kind of life jacket on Ellingson, and it came off when he fell into the water. Ellingson drowned despite Piercy's attempt to save him.
A special prosecutor charged Piercy with involuntary manslaughter, but that charge was reduced to negligent operation of a vessel, to which Piercy pleaded guilty in June 2017.
He was sentenced to 180 days in jail with the execution of the sentence suspended; placed on two years of supervised probation, which is set to end later this year; and ordered to serve 10 days in jail, which he has done.
Piercy's license was subject to discipline because of his plea to a crime; the Public Safety Department sought to revoke Piercy's license and, in February 2018, won a ruling from the Administrative Hearing Commission that "cause exists for the Department to take disciplinary action."
Juden held a disciplinary hearing June 27, 2018, then issued his one-page decision to revoke Piercy's license July 16.
Piercy's attorneys have previously argued, "(Juden)'s decision does not include any factual findings or legal conclusions and does not state what facts Juden relied on in imposing the harshest possible discipline," and Van Ronzelen reiterated Thursday that the lack of rationale prohibits a meaningful review of the decision and does not comply with the law.
Green said Thursday that it is a structural weakness for a case to go to the Administrative Hearing Commission before going to the director.
Van Ronzelen advocated for a new hearing for Piercy.
Green questioned why the judgment against Piercy could not simply be rewritten, given that a transcript of the previous hearing exists.
Van Ronzelen said he did not know if the transcript reflects the former director's reasoning. He also questioned whether Karsten could be impartial in establishing rationale for the revocation of Piercy's license.
After Piercy's guilty plea and sentencing, a six-member Highway Patrol Review Board considered Piercy's case and determined Dec. 11, 2017, that his conduct had violated the patrol's "general orders."
However, the board unanimously recommended Piercy be reinstated to active duty and transferred from Troop F to another part of the state.
On Dec. 15, 2017, then-Patrol Superintendent Karsten ordered Piercy be fired.
Piercy sued the patrol over that decision, which has led to another set of appeals after Cole County Presiding Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled last August that Karsten had overstepped her authority when she fired Piercy.
Green said it is not his job to second-guess the director; Karsten would have the chance to decide whether to recuse herself; and if Piercy's attorneys did not feel she would be the appropriate person to handle the case, then they could file other legal remedies.
Karsten and the Department of Public Safety were represented by Assistant Attorney General Daryl Hylton.