Topic: How's the Prosecuting Attorney Doing?

[blissfullybusy]

Good work Darrell.  I agree.  For the record, does anybody know how many prosecutions have resulted in a guilty verdict under Mrs. Hooper?  Does anybody know how many cases have not even made it to trial yet under Mrs.Hooper?  I don't know I'm just wondering if anybody has her record and can make it public on here.

Oh honey..... the stories I could tell you...  It's a BAD record, very bad.

[whatsnew]

The best opinion I have ever seen from you Darrel. Thank you!

[whatsnew]

I will never vote for Debra Hooper.. EVER.
I also will not vote for a son of a criminal defense lawyer for the prosecutors office..
If they ple a case, Is that fair?
Will Jim Thomas have more new clients then he could possibly represent because his son is our prosecutor?
This is far more serious when you add in the inexpierence factor.......
Not acceptable in my book..
So they leaves Mr. Gifford by default, unless someone else runs.

[Lepard LLC]

I heard that the lawyers support Gifford to be prosecutor because he will press charges on every crime and everyone will have to hire lawyers to defend them.

[okie the thread killer]

Darrell, I have to say that I agree with you 99%, with the exception of your last sentence.  Police officers will be very frustrated to deal with an inexperienced lawyer.  Hooper was inexperienced in criminal law when she was elected and I said it was a mistake then.  Hindsight is always 20/20.... even though sometimes it's nice to say "I told you so", :-) Please know I am just teasing.

I am not endorsing Wayne Gifford, I have very strong opinions on him myself, but if the choice is going to be only between those two... I will choose Gifford.  My personal opinions on the way he carries himself and interacts with the Judges etc. will have to be put aside.  Out of those two, Gifford, KNOWS the law.  That is one benefit he has going for him.  Out of all three, IF they are the only three.... I'm choking while I state this... Wayne Gifford is finally going to get my vote.

Hopefully we'll get another runner before the March 25th meet the candidates at East Elementary!!

Gifford is knows law very well and is good at his job...I realize he rubs some people the wrong way, but he does know the law.

[okie the thread killer]

I heard that the lawyers support Gifford to be prosecutor because he will press charges on every crime and everyone will have to hire lawyers to defend them.
[/quote
The greater majority would have public defenders would be my guess.

[pulaskiivoter]

Darrell, where did Jeff Thomas get his law degree?
Was't Gifford prosecutor once before?  Was he deelected or what?  If you were here then, how was he?
Darrell even if it were not outoud, does local law enforcement think any of the three would be better than the other?

[darrellmaurina]

Darrell, where did Jeff Thomas get his law degree?

Cooley Law School in Michigan.

Was't Gifford prosecutor once before?  Was he deelected or what?  If you were here then, how was he?

He's been prosecutor more than once before, having been appointed to fill vacancies; if I understood what he told me recently, he was elected once but then defeated for re-election. What I know about his performance is secondhand and others are better qualified to comment.

Darrell even if it were not outoud, does local law enforcement think any of the three would be better than the other?

What I hear universally is "anybody but Hooper." Beyond that, I think different police chiefs and senior leaders have different opinions.

[luge]

Wow, that was a good read. I like to see local media take stands on issues. You don't see that much anymore, so I applaud you for that, Darrell. I hope she does answer you. I would be interested in hearing her response.

[♥♣ ~Maynard~♣♥]

Prosecution/Prostitution..........Election/Erection
No matter what you call it someone is going to get screwed.....period.
JMHO 

[Yankee Trader]

Well said Darrell!! How about getting us some case counts from last year.  Also how many of those cases were changes of venues to Pulaski County.  Why is there cases that have a change of venue out of Pulaski County that have had ZERO action on them since being filed in the new court?  And did she actually file about 300 cases in the last few weeks of the year to make up?   I was planning on putting together the case information but am no longer in the area with easy access to the Circuit Clerks. 

[blissfullybusy]

I'm not even sure why we're even talking about Hooper, surely everyone knows she wont be reelected right? I'm not even sure why she is running again. This election (as of right now) is between Gifford and Thomas.

[tpgunbiz]

I absolutely Hate Gifford, but for the that reason Id vote for him to be  prosicuter, Hes Ruthless, he has no heart, and he has no respect for Judges. My ex sister in law used him in a disability case. he made such an ass out of himself the judge almost threw out the case. This was in St. Louis. He was also my adversary in a divorce case not too long later. he threatened to physically hit my ex wife..( He was her lawyer) for asking questions. He seems to me to be a hack lawyer, but he does know the law and he is a ruthless, heart less , Mean individual, who is what this county needs as a prosicuter. not some lazy ass wannabe . I think this may be his calling. He sure as hell has no other place as a lawyer. My vote will be for him as long as he uses his traits to further the counties betterment. He sucks as a humanitarian. He rules as an a$$hole that gets shit done.

[blissfullybusy]

I absolutely Hate Gifford, but for the that reason Id vote for him to be  prosicuter, Hes Ruthless, he has no heart, and he has no respect for Judges. My ex sister in law used him in a disability case. he made such an ass out of himself the judge almost threw out the case. This was in St. Louis. He was also my adversary in a divorce case not too long later. he threatened to physically hit my ex wife..( He was her lawyer) for asking questions. He seems to me to be a hack lawyer, but he does know the law and he is a ruthless, heart less , Mean individual, who is what this county needs as a prosicuter. not some lazy ass wannabe . I think this may be his calling. He sure as hell has no other place as a lawyer. My vote will be for him as long as he uses his traits to further the counties betterment. He sucks as a humanitarian. He rules as an a$$hole that gets shit done.

Ok we share the same opinion.  The Judges dislike him a lot and I'm afraid that reputation won't help us as a county.

[~kathy~]

My question is I went to her office today to find out what was going on with the guy who wrote me a bad check last July and all I found out was is last Friday he had court and the lady said all she knew was they pressed charges against him and I could not find out anymore since she was in court. So now what do i need to do? And why did they not contact me about him going to court on the check he wrote to me?

[cowboy]

Why is it her staff didn't know any more about it.  Hoops can't be the only source of information or does it make her feel important to be the only one who knows the answer.   We need to DEEM her unnecessary and take her off the ballot without a vote.

[~kathy~]

I don't know why the lady didn't know more but I sure wish she would have known. But my biggest peeve is not being told about them setting him a court date because I want to know what is going on since it is my money that is being played with here.

[darrellmaurina]

I don't know why the lady didn't know more but I sure wish she would have known. But my biggest peeve is not being told about them setting him a court date because I want to know what is going on since it is my money that is being played with here.

For the moment, let's set aside the issue of what can or should have happened with victim notification in a bad check case. Our prosecuting attorney may or may not have done things the way they should have been done.

But regardless of what she did or did not do, here's what you can do. Go to Casenet, which you can access here:

https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/searchCases.do?searchType=name

Type in this guy's name. You'll find all the current or past criminal or civil cases he's ever had, unless they were dismissed for lack of prosecution. Your case will be among them, or ar least should be.

Once you have the case number, everything about the case is an open public record. Anybody can access it, including me as a member of the news media, and I do that on a regular basis. If the online docket doesn't answer your questions -- and it may not -- then go to the second floor of the courthouse to Circuit Court Clerk Rachelle Beasley's office and ask to see the case file paper documents. The court clerks may want to watch you while you read the case file, but it is your legal right as a citizen to review any case file.
 
The only reason your file might not be accessible would be if the judge still has it in the courtroom, or if the clerks haven't yet had time to put it back in the proper place. You might have to wait a few days, but all your questions should be answerable from the paper court file, and most of your questions should be answerable from the electronic records.

[~kathy~]

thank you i will do that since it isnt on casenet yet.

[Yankee Trader]

thank you i will do that since it isnt on casenet yet.

Kathy is the case showing in CaseNet at all?  If it is not in CaseNet there have been no charges filed unless the accused is a minor. 

[~kathy~]

he is no minor and no it isnt showing up on casenet at all, all i know is the secretary in hoopers office said they went to court last friday and that they preseed charges on him for the bad check since it was for 800.00. if he had wrote a check for 500.00 or less he would have only gotten a fine. still makes no sense at all to me.

[igahmah at work]

We had a return check at the fireworks stand that the church runs in July 2004, we just got payment for it last month.  I know there are other more important things for the office to do but I just think that is an extremely long time to wait for a bad check to be resolved.  I'm surprised it didn't just drop off the records in 5 years.

[blissfullybusy]

Any you would think bad checks would be a priority because some of the fees go back to the prosecutors office.  Where I was before funded an investigator and a staff person JUST on collection of bad check fees.

[Just_a_Biker]

There was a time here that the only thing that DID get prosecuted was bad checks...

[Jax]

Biker, I LOVE your signature line! It fits at nearly EVERY level of Government.

[Just_a_Biker]

Biker, I LOVE your signature line! It fits at nearly EVERY level of Government.

Thanks Jax!  I remember studying Roman history in HS and thinking (way back then!), "wow, that's America".  People don't think it could ever happen to us, but that's just their arrogance talking, because far greater nations have fallen in the past.  I'm happy with how most of our Congressmen in Missouri conduct business, the governor, those in Federal politics and some things at the local level are a completely different story...

[Yankee Trader]

Kathy sent you a PM.  It's there.....they just spelled his name wrong. lol

[blissfullybusy]

does anyone know if these three will be at the meet the candidates night on the 25th?

[kevinhillman]

I believe that meet the candidate night is for school board candidates only.  The Chamber and the Senior centers do some later in the summer for the August/November election.

[blissfullybusy]

awww see that serves me right for only reading the big bold print and not the little print. hahaha going too fast all the time for small print. LOL