Missouri has a State Legal Expense Fund to pay court-ordered damages when the defendant is a state official or employed by a state-created agency.
But a Kansas City man arrested and then assaulted by an off-duty Kansas City police officer can't collect from the fund, a three-judge appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.
In an 11-page ruling, the Kansas City appeals court ruled that 2005 changes to the state law authorizing the Legal Expense Fund also prohibited Gregory Sherf from being paid by it.