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MO law expands drug treatment court to more of the state

A bill that expands the reach of drug treatment courts in the state of Missouri recently was passed in the State General Assembly. Now those who suffer from substance abuse will have more options.

The bill was passed by the lawmakers and signed by the governor. It consolidates Missouri’s treatment courts – adult treatment court, DWI court, family treatment court, juvenile treatment court, and veterans treatment court. It also updates state statute to reflect the reality of the treatment court system today.

One important part of the bill is that it expands treatment courts to counties that don’t have them because of the cost to operate them. Now, a person in a county that does not have treatment court can be transferred to a court that offers treatment court as long as all parties agree to the transfer. The bill also sets standards of best practices for treatment courts throughout the state.

Advocates of the program emphasize that this is not a “get out of jail free card” program. The treatment program generally takes two years and requirements participants to meet plenty of requirements, such as obtaining employment or completing an education, staying clean with frequent random drug testing, and attending treatment meetings.

The governor also signed legislation that helps encourage students to pursue career paths in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Another bill also passed sets out to bring more awareness to domestic violence, and will allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, human trafficking or stalking to better keep their personal addresses confidential from the public’s access. The state’s office will provide a designated substitute address for survivors to use when creating new public records, as well as the option to securely forward mail to their confidential addresses. The hope is that this will keep survivors’ confidential addresses out of the hands of their assailants.

All in all, the recent General Assembly passed several helpful laws that will help those in need.

Warson Woods Municipal Court

Warson Woods Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Warson Woods, MO Traffic Court
Warson Woods Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Warson Woods, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Warson Woods traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Warson Woods Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Warson Woods?

This page contains Court information and links for Warson Woods, Missouri.

Warson Woods Municipal Court
424 N. Sappington Rd
Warson Woods, MO 63122

Phone: 314-909-3003
Fax: 314-965-2912

City of Warson Woods, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
Hon. John P. Lord, III

Court Administrator
Cassy Kollmeyer

Prosecuting Attorney
Ed McSweeny

Court Hours
Monday-Thursday
7:00am – 3:00pm

Court is held every other month on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00pm.

Payments can be made online at www.ipaycourt.com/warsonwoods

Des Peres Municipal Court

Des Peres Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Des Peres, MO Traffic Court
Des Peres Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Des Peres, Missouri?

Des Peres issued 614 tickets in 2017.
Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Des Peres traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Des Peres Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

This page contains Court information and links for Des Peres, Missouri.

Des Peres Municipal Court
12325 Manchester Rd
Des Peres, MO 63131

Phone: 314-835-6119

City of Des Peres, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
Charles H. Billings

Court Administrator
Amie Clemonds

Court Hours
Monday-Friday
8:00am – 4:00pm

Dardenne Prairie Municipal Court

Dardenne Prairie Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Dardenne Prairie, MO Traffic Court
Dardenne Prairie Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Dardenne Prairie traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Dardenne Prairie Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Dardenne Prairie?

This page contains Court information and links for Dardenne Prairie, Missouri.

Dardenne Prairie Municipal Court
2032 Hanley Rd
Dardenne Prairie, MO 63368

Phone: 636-755-5333
Fax: 636-625-0077

City of Dardenne Prairie, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Court Administrator
Tamie Wood

Berkeley Municipal Court

Berkeley Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Berkeley, MO Traffic Court
Berkeley Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Berkeley, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Berkeley traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Berkeley Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Berkeley?

This page contains Court information and links for Berkeley, Missouri.

Berkeley Municipal Court
8425 Airport Rd.
Berkeley, MO 63134

Phone: 314-524-3313
Fax: 314-264-2075

City of Berkeley, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
Hon. Jennifer Fisher

Court Administrator
April Walton

Court Hours
Monday-Friday
8:30am – 5:00pm

Wildwood Municipal Court

Wildwood Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Wildwood, MO Traffic Court
Wildwood Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Wildwood, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Wildwood traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Wildwood Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Wildwood?

This page contains Court information and links for Wildwood, Missouri.

Wildwood Municipal Court
16860 Main St.
Wildwood, MO 63040

Phone: 636-458-8277
Fax: 636-458-6969

City of Wildwood, MO. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
William Biermann

Provisional Judge
Stacy Jackson

Prosecuting Attorney
Molly Proost

Court Administrator
Laura Rechtin

Deputy Court Clerk
Tracy Poole

Court Hours
Monday-Friday
8:30am – 4:30pm

For cases prior to 1/1/2020 you can check on case status at Wildwood Missouri Records Search.

For cases after 01/1/2020 you can use Casenet

Webster Groves Municipal Court

Webster Groves Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Webster Groves, MO Traffic Court
Webster Groves Traffic Lawyers

Webster Groves Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Webster Groves?
Our Webster Groves traffic lawyers handle speeding ticket defense, where “no points” is the goal.
Let our Webster Groves traffic law attorneys start helping you today. Fill out the form on the side of this page.

This page contains Court information and links for Webster Groves, Missouri.

Webster Groves Municipal Court
#4 E. Lockwood
Webster Groves, MO 63119

Phone: 314-963-5416
Fax: 314-963-1514

City of Webster Groves, MO website.

Court Hours
Monday-Friday
8:00am – 4:00pm
Municipal Court is generally conducted on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 5:30 pm in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, #4 East Lockwood, Webster Groves, Missouri, 63119.

For security purposes, those attending Court must enter through the front doors. If you require use of the accessible entrance, have someone in your party contact the officer stationed at the front door or use the call button on the east side of the building at the Police Department entrance. Americans with Disabilities Act Notice

Kansas City Municipal Court

Kansas City Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Kansas City, MO Traffic Court
Kansas City Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Kansas City, Missouri?

Kansas City Municipal Court issues thousands of tickets each year. Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Kansas City traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.

Kansas City  Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Kansas City?
Our Kansas City traffic lawyers handle speeding ticket defense, where “no points” is the goal.

Let our Kansas City traffic law attorneys start helping you today. Fill out the form on the side of this page.

This page contains Court information and links for Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City Municipal Court
511 E. 11th St.
Kansas City, MO 64106
Phone: 816-513-5700
Fax: 816-513-6782

City of Kansas City, MO website.

Office Hours
Monday-Friday 8:00am – 5:00 pm excluding Holidays

Court times

Our courtroom docket times are 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m.

The Court recommends you arrive 30 to 45 minutes before your scheduled hearing to allow enough time to go through security. Defendants are responsible for being on time and present in court when their cases are called. Those who are not could have a warrant issued for their arrest for failing to appear for the hearing.

For information or to pay your ticket, click here.

Literal compliance with filing rules for Breathalyzer unnecessary

A recent Eastern District of Missouri appellate decision appears to be pro-law enforcement.

The trial court concluded the blood alcohol content results were inadmissible because the officer had not filed a copy of the maintenance report of the breathalyzer with the DHSS, as it is required under 19 CSR 25-30.031(3). The breathalyzer determines whether someone exceeded the allowed drinking amount by taking the person’s blood alcohol content (BAC). The trial court thereby reinstated the driving privileges of a man in St. Charles County. The Department of Revenue then appealed the decision.

The appellate court reversed and remanded, stating that the trial court was in error, and that absolute and literal compliance with the filing requirement in that regulation is not required because it was a collateral issue that did not affect the performance or validity of the breath test. As a maintenance report was done, the fact that it wasn’t filed with the DHSS was ancillary.

The case was Gerald R. Roam v. Department of Revenue. The opinion was written by Judge Robert G. Dowd, Jr.. Judges J. Philip J. Hess, P.J. and Mary K. Hoff, J., concurred. The attorney for the Appellant was Morgan Brewington, and attorney for Respondent was Robert S. Adler.

The court wrote: “In spite of the established case law, Roam insists that the Director must demonstrate “absolute and literal compliance” with this DHSS regulation before the BAC results can be admitted into evidence, and the trial court seems to have agreed. Besides being in conflict with the above law, our courts have specifically rejected this proposition as well. In Potts v. State, the court held instead that the Director must only demonstrate absolute and literal compliance with those regulations “governing the actual performance” of the maintenance check and not with those regulations “governing collateral issues which do not affect the actual performance or validity of the test itself.” 22 S.W.3d 226, 230 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000) (emphasis added). Potts determined that the requirement for filing a copy of the maintenance report with DHSS is a collateral issue that does not affect the performance or validity of the breath test. Id. at 231. Roam has failed to adequately address, much less distinguish, Turcotte, Potts or any of the above precedent. Instead, he stated in his brief that the trial court had Turcotte before it, knew the law and is presumed to have followed it. But clearly the court did not follow the law. It was error not to admit the BAC results on the ground that the maintenance report had not been filed with DHSS. Therefore, we must reverse and remand.”

A call to put teeth back into enforcing traffic violations

Did the 2015 municipal court reforms for traffic violations go too far?

That is the subject of a great editorial by the Kansas City Star a few weeks ago talking about how too many people with traffic tickets are not paying their fines and are getting away with it. Since the state-wide municipal court reform after the Ferguson uprising, there doesn’t seem to be any punishment for not paying fines and not showing up to court.

In many communities, traffic violators have figured out that they don’t need to show up to court because the effective tools of punishment such as higher fines, warrants for not showing up to court, or suspending a person’s license is not an option.

Maximum fines were lowered from $500 to $225. Many cities coffers are severely depleted and are finding it difficult to impossible to enforce law violators without an adequate budget. This has also carried over to enforcement of residential nuisance ordinances that are designed to keep housing safe, particularly with abandoned properties.

For example, one person who didn’t show up to court in a town near Kansas City had been arrested four times for a $450 ticket from 2015 for driving with no insurance and driving with a suspended license. She still hasn’t paid, and likely never will.

One judge was quoted as saying, “These people just continue to drive, except they don’t drive to court.”

One state senator tried to pass a bill to put some teeth back into law enforcement. His idea was that if a citizen fails to show up for a court date, a judge could order community service, issue a civil fine or put a hold on a driver’s license.

The editorial calls for Missouri to revisit its 2015 reforms with the goal of restoring some authority to its municipal courts to better find a balance between being overbearing on constituency and effectively punishing and enforcing our traffic laws. Because as the editorial states, “As of now, they’ve been effectively defanged.”