The Office of State Court Administrator (OSCA) informed The Salem News by email Friday that a months-old routine procedural error has led to incomplete information being publicized during the weeks preceding this year’s general election.
The development is the latest chapter in the race between Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley and challenger William Camm Seay. OSCA calls into question the accuracy of ads recently published in The Salem News by the Seay campaign.
In an Oct. 16 ad, Seay claims Curley has not filed large numbers of cases referred to the prosecutor by law enforcement by specifically alleging there were only 43 felony or misdemeanor domestic assault cases filed for the years 2014 to 2017. As evidence, Seay cites statistics he obtained from a Sunshine Law request he filed with the Dent County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. In an Oct. 15 letter addressed to Curley, Circuit Court Clerk Becky Swiney writes that her office fulfilled Seay’s Sunshine request in accordance to instructions supplied to her by OSCA.
Curley counters by citing an OSCA analysis that 94 domestic assault cases were filed over the four years in question. OSCA is a state agency which provides centrally based statistical and administrative support for Missouri’s 46 court circuits.
The Salem News contacted OSCA Oct. 19 for clarification of which filing number is more accurate, 43 or 94 cases. In explaining the discrepancy between the two figures, OSCA’s Legal Counsel, Catherine Zacharias, wrote to The Salem News in the Friday email:
“It appears the differences in the two reports stem from the charge codes for which each provided data. Charge codes are associated to a specific crime and change periodically based largely on statutory changes. As of January 1, 2016, the entire charge code structure was redone, and new charge codes were developed for every offense. In addition, the legislature's overhaul of the criminal code took effect January 1, 2017, resulting in further significant changes in charge codes. Although request was for a broader period of years, it appears the (Dent County circuit) clerk's report inadvertently used only the more current charge codes, resulting in incomplete information. The second (OSCA analyst) report you received (from Curley) included not only the current charge codes but also the charge codes previously in effect, resulting in the higher number of cases.”
Subsequent ads taken out by the Seay campaign further challenge the number of DWI and drug cases filed by Curley between 2014 and 2017. For example, an Oct. 23 ad claims 153 felony drug charges were filed over those four years. An Oct. 16 ad claims 123 DWI cases were filed over that same period. Those ads also allege those filings represent a low percentage of the total number referred to Curley for prosecution by law enforcement.
Statistics concerning alcohol and drug-related court cases are publicly available and posted online as part of the Casenet database. It does not provide such information for domestic violence cases. The Casenet website (www.mo.courts.gov) is an automated case management system which includes filings, docket entries, parties, judgments and charges made in Missouri’s public courts. It is centrally administered by OSCA.
According to a Salem News analysis of Casenet’s alcohol and drug statistics there were 724 felony drug cases filed between 2014 and 2017. Determining the final total number of filings was complicated by what appears to be up to a few dozen duplicate entries in the database within the year-end 2017 report. The Salem News approximates there were 149 drug felonies from 2014, 192 from 2015, 211 from 2016 and 172 from 2017. The most frequent charge was possession of a controlled substance with an estimated 465 filings. There were also an estimated 193 felony filings related to delivery, distribution or manufacture of a controlled substance. Additionally, there were approximately 322 drug-related misdemeanors filed over that period.
The Salem News’ Casenet analysis found 225 DWI-related charges were also filed between 2014 and 2017. They include an estimated 42 felonies and 183 misdemeanors. A limiting factor in that analysis is Casenet’s crime statistics are divided into alcohol and drug-related categories, and in a limited number of cases within the 2017 report, individuals appear to have been charged jointly for DWI incidents in which both alcohol and drugs were involved.
The Salem News analysis found the complications in the 2017 report appear to correspond with the charge code changes which OSCA previously reported went into effect that year.
The Salem News is not currently able to determine the full number of referrals for prosecution made by law enforcement. Two local agencies, the Salem Police Department and Dent County Sheriff’s Office, have recently posted letters stating errors were made when providing Seay with the number of referrals they made for prosecution. More information on that subject is published in an article in last week’s edition of The Salem News.
