A Moniteau County judge has approved the dismissal of a civil case in Cole County court that was trying to clarify a state Senate bill signed into law in June 2018.
Moniteau County Associate Circuit Judge Aaron Martin reviewed a motion to dismiss filed by Stephen Sokoloff, general counsel for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services, who represented Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson in this case, according to court records. Martin was assigned the case after all Cole County judges recused themselves.
Martin noted the case was dismissed voluntarily and without prejudice. That means Thompson could bring this matter back to the courts.
Sokoloff said there are pending cases before the Missouri Supreme Court and the Eastern District Court of Appeals that turn on the interpretation of the same provisions of law that were being put forth in this case.
"These will provide a determination of this question of law on a broader basis and in a shorter time frame," Sokoloff noted in his motion.
Thompson filed a petition in December for declaratory judgment against Cole County Juvenile Court Administrator Michael Couty, but "against" was only a legal technicality as the two were working together to get a judge to clarify Missouri Senate Bill 800, which former Gov. Eric Greitens signed into law June 1, 2018.
SB 800 changed the state's laws so 17-year-olds must be prosecuted as juveniles unless they're certified to stand trial as an adult or are being prosecuted for a traffic or curfew violation.
While the law took effect Jan. 1 of this year, SB 800 also states: "Expanding services from seventeen years of age to eighteen years of age is a new service and shall not be effective until an appropriation sufficient to fund the expanded service is provided therefor."
Thompson argued state lawmakers did not make such an appropriation to fund expanded juvenile services to 17-year-olds and, given the ambiguity in the language of the relevant section of the law, it's currently open to interpretation when that part of SB 800 actually becomes effective as law.
Thompson's petition stated juvenile officers in other circuit courts have already reached differing interpretations, "which will result in conflicting application of who has jurisdiction for the prosecution of 17-year-olds who are accused of criminal conduct. The perpetuation of such an inconsistency would create myriad problems and lead to likely miscarriages of justice, irrespective of how the matter is ultimately interpreted."
Couty said the same thing of his personal interpretation - the new law does not take effect until money is appropriated to fund juvenile courts' expanded jurisdiction to 17-year-olds.