A crime-fighting package is on deck to become Missouri law next month. Senate Bill 754 is sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville. It started off as legislation to honor a St. Joseph Police Department canine officer.
In 2021, a St. Joseph Police Department dog, named Max, put his life on the line to save his human partner. Officer Lucas Winder was Max’s partner. Max was killed in the line of duty while he and Winder were responding to a standoff. The suspect came out of the house and attempted to ambush the officers, but Max stepped in to stop them.
“I remember shortly after that happened, there was this huge outcry in the community in Saint Joe, of people who, you know, were upset, of course, about the killing of canine Max, but also the fact that the law really doesn’t adequately protect these police canines,” Luetkemeyer said. “They’re sent into dangerous situations to subdue and help apprehend a dangerous and armed individual, so their human partner doesn’t have to put their life on the line.”
Under current Missouri law, police dogs are considered property. Harming or killing a police dog in the line of duty is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a fine of $700.
“Max’s Law” will increase the charge to a felony punishable by up to seven years in federal prison and a fine of $10,000.
“Missouri has one of the most lax laws when it comes to killing a law enforcement canine is treated as mere property damage, and in fact, it’s a more serious crime to break the window of a police car than it is to kill a law enforcement canine,” said Luektemeyer.
Another piece of the bill, called “Blair’s Law,” will create a criminal offense for firing gunshots in the air to celebrate that injure or kill someone.
Thirteen years ago, Blair Shanahan Lane was killed in Kansas City after a bullet hit the 11-year-old.
“What we found is, is that there’s a gap in the law because you weren’t intending to kill anybody, you can’t be charged with a homicide offense,” Luetkemeyer said. “And so, this is designed to give prosecutors and law enforcement more tools to hold these individuals accountable who engage in this very dangerous behavior.”
Blair’s mother, Michele Shanahan DeMoss, has been advocating for the bill’s passage for thirteen years.
“I mean, I just woke up like a weight is lifted, is the way I would describe it. My entire drive to Jefferson City, I feel like I was taking weights off of me. And to describe the weight size, those would be cinder block size, is the weights that, just slowly laying them aside,” she told Missourinet after the bill signing. “A bullet travels a long way,” she said. “It traveled three football fields and hit her in the neck. And it hit her so hard that it moved her.”
The bill is also sponsored by Rep. Mark Sharpe, D-Kansas City.
“So, as I was driving into Jeff (City) this morning for the bill signing, all I could think of was hoping that the governor woke up in a good mood today because I sure wanted to make sure that we got this bill passed and signed by the governor today. Very thankful to him,” Sharpe told Missourinet after the bill signing.
Fleeing from police in a vehicle at a high speed will soon become a felony in Missouri. “Valentine’s Law” is the name of the bill, named after St. Louis County police officer Antonio Valentine, who was killed in 2021 during a high-speed chase.
Under Luetkemeyer’s legislation, a suspect could spend one year to life in prison, depending on whether the chase leads to injuries or even worse.
“These high-speed chases are, unfortunately, all too frequent, where people will flee from law enforcement, and they pose a huge risk, not only to the police officer who’s pursuing them, like police officer Valentine, who was killed in a high-speed chase, but also the public at large, other vehicles that are out on the road,” Luetkemeyer said.
The legislation will also create a conviction review unit, which will allow prosecutors to reopen a case that was prosecuted in their jurisdiction if they believe there’s evidence of innocence.
“This is going to be very impactful, I would think, in particularly smaller counties, where you have a prosecutor, where it may be that he or she is the only prosecutor in the office, and they’re being asked to reconsider a murder conviction from the 1960s where they believe that there’s a claim of actual innocence,” he said.
The conviction review unit can dig into old case files and determine whether to recommend to the local prosecutor if the case should be reopened.
In addition, Luetkemeyer’s bill will increase the minimum age from 12 to 14 years old for a minor to be charged as an adult for any felony.
For more information on Senate Bill 754, click here.
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