Columbia businessman’s fate uncertain after Missouri Supreme Court ruling

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia businessman's freedom was uncertain Friday after a Missouri Supreme Court decision that could send him back to prison.

The court in a one-sentence ruling Tuesday overruled a motion for a rehearing in the case of Dimetrious Woods. The court ruled Feb. 4 that Woods must return to prison when it reversed a Cole County judge's order granting Woods a chance at parole for his 25-year sentence for drug trafficking.

Woods was found guilty of drug trafficking after he and a friend were pulled over while delivering cocaine from Kansas City to St. Louis in 2006. A judge ruled he was a "prior and persistent offender" and sentenced him to prison without parole.

He was released on probation in 2018 after a judge ruled that changes state lawmakers made to parole rules in drug cases were retroactive.

The state Department of Corrections appealed that decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled in February that the changes lawmakers made could not be applied retroactively.

It's not clear when Woods will return to prison. Karen Pojman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said Friday that the department has taken no action on the case since the court denied a rehearing.