AG appeals judge's rejection of Safe at Home intervention

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Wednesday his office had filed an emergency motion in St. Louis County Circuit Court "to defend the secretary of state's Safe at Home program."

In a news release, Hawley said the motion was filed after Judge Sandra Farragut-Hemphill denied Hawley's previous motion - filed last Friday - asking the judge to reconsider her decision earlier this month that prevented the statewide program from intervening in a divorce case.

During a hearing Tuesday, Farragut-Hemphill denied the Friday motion because not all parties had been notified when it was filed.

In a separate news release Wednesday, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft denounced the court's "refusal to hear a motion to intervene" and expressed support for the victim.

Ashcroft's office runs the Safe at Home program, which was made a part of state law in 2007.

Ashcroft's staff asked to be involved in the divorce case after Farragut-Hemphill ruled Jan. 31 the wife in the case really was not a part of the Safe at Home program because she "did not provide a sworn statement that she has a good reason to believe that she is a victim of domestic violence and fears further violent acts from (the husband)."

The judge also ruled the form the secretary of state's office has been using for years didn't include a sworn statement, she said, the law required.

That ruling, Hawley said Wednesday, called "the integrity of the program into question."

The Safe at Home program provides victims with a substitute address for mail to be sent. The secretary of state's office then processes that mail and forwards it to the participant's actual home address.

In the motion filed last Friday, Assistant Attorney General Jillian Meek Mueller reminded the court: "The clear purpose of the Safe at Home statute is to protect vulnerable Missouri citizens from disclosure of sensitive, protected address information unless the Secretary determines that exigent circumstances exist for doing so. No such determination has been made in this case."

The motion filed last week - and rejected Tuesday - also argued state law gives the secretary of state authority to "certify the applicant as a program participant and assign the applicant a designated address different from the applicant's actual, confidential address. Critically, the statute authorizing the program requires that state and local agencies and the courts shall accept the designated address as a program participant's address when creating a new public record."

The judge last September, and again in January, ordered the wife to report her home address to her husband's attorney and the guardian ad litem, an attorney appointed by the court to represent the couple's child during the divorce case.

Farragut-Hemphill repeated that order April 13, adding the wife had to report the address before leaving the courtroom that day.

The wife's mother, Sheila Rilenge, of University City, told the News Tribune last week her daughter had complied with that order.

The News Tribune generally doesn't identify the names of abuse victims, and in this story, the woman is referred to as "the wife."

The husband originally filed for the divorce in January 2016.

Ashcroft's office said Wednesday the wife signed up for the program a year ago.

Farragut-Hemphill first ordered her to reveal her home address in September - even though an order in May had told a bank to redact the address information in its records that had been subpoenaed by the husband.

Ashcroft said Wednesday: "Common sense tells us that the intent of the Safe at Home program is to protect victims of horrific abuse and provide them the comfort of knowing that they and their children are safe from their alleged abusers.

"The judge used improper evidence in making a determination that the victim was not a participant in the Safe at Home program and has consequently put the victim and her family in danger."

In his separate release, Hawley added, "(We) will continue to litigate vigorously to defend the Safe at Home program. It protects Missourians across the state whose safety is threatened by violence.

"Every victim of domestic abuse should be able to keep her identity safe, and we will fight to ensure she can."

Farragut-Hemphill has scheduled a motion hearing for 1:30 p.m. May 11.

However, she's scheduled a trial in the divorce case for 9 a.m. Tuesday.