COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – A Jackson County judge blocked Missouri’s near-total abortion ban Friday following the passage of a statewide constitutional amendment in November. Judge Jerri Zhang’s 22-page ruling temporarily blocks several state laws regulating the procedure. That includes Missouri’s law banning abortions except for a medical emergency. Planned Parenthood sued the state shortly after
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A jury awarded a former Lincoln University employee with $1,271,000 in damages in a discrimination case. Sheila Gassner had sued the school in 2019, claiming that her compensation was lower than her African-American counterparts, according to previous reporting. Gassner is white and worked for the university for nearly 30 years until
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Three inmates who were injured in a December 2023 Boone County crash are suing the Department of Corrections. Three petitions were filed on Wednesday. Raymond Nugen, Richard Kerksiek and Dustin Burkhart are suing the DOC, the driver of a transport van, a truck driver and SLC Leasing LLC for damages. The petitions
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against the Jefferson City Catholic Diocese. The lawsuit against the Diocese and the Rev. Shawn McKnight alleged it covered up abuse for more than 50 years and “hindered Plaintiffs from discovering their causes of action against the Defendants for their negligent and
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Boone County sheriff’s deputy and the county were sued on Thursday in a personal injury lawsuit. Court documents say Zackery Brink filed a petition against Deputy Adam Sharp and the county for damages from a June 30, 2023, crash. Brink says in court documents that he was a passenger in a
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According to Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger, Larry Karhoff, 53, was sentenced to 30 years at the Missouri Department of Corrections for drug trafficking and firearm charges.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Columbia man who was acquitted in two years ago in a felony case has filed another lawsuit against several defendants. Mehrdad Fotoohighiam was accused of arson. He was acquitted in 2019. He was also acquitted in another case in 2022 where he was accused of conspiring to murder his wife. Fotoohighiam filed a lawsuit
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The Columbia woman accused of paying someone to set a Mexican restaurant on fire and impersonating public officials allegedly pretended to be a southeast Missouri county commissioner to state alcohol regulators.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Boone County Prosecutor’s Office has dropped two sex crimes against a Jefferson City man just a week before trial was set to start. Assistant Prosecutor Olufunmike Owoso dropped a rape and sodomy charge against Aleksey Salaz on Wednesday afternoon. Owoso explained that she “partly reconsidered the strength of certain aspects of
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A special prosecutor in northeast Missouri will decide whether any law enforcement officers involved in a deadly June standoff will face criminal charges.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) The Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against a Jefferson City Chinese restaurant on Tuesday after it claimed that $935,920.48 in back wages have not been paid to employees. The complaint alleges that Dragon Kitchen – in the 2200 block of Missouri Boulevard – and Danny Cheng did not fully pay
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Mandatory jail time and what juries get instructed to consider could guide the first uses of a new state law on car chases with police, according to legal experts. Prosecutors can now consider charging people with aggravated fleeing a stop, dubbed Valentine’s Law by state lawmakers this session. People who drive
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Five people claiming Catholic priests abused them in Mid-Missouri accused the diocese of covering up and sometimes encouraging their assaults over decades.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Joseph Shetler, of Jefferson City, was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to become anassociate circuit judgefor the19th Judicial Circuit, according to a Friday press release from the governor’s office. The release says Shetler owns Shetler Law, LLC and has a bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts from Conception Seminary College and
Continue Reading JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A wrongful death lawsuit was filed on Thursday by the mother of an inmate who died last year at the Tipton Correctional Center. Brandon Pace died on April 7, 2023, according to Missouri Department of Corrections records. Tammy Reed filed the lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections, former Director Anne
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EDITOR’S NOTE: A misspelled name has been corrected. BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ) A Boone County man is facing rape and murder charges stemming from a 1993 Indiana case. Dana Jermaine Shepherd, 52, faces charges in Marion County, Indiana, including two counts of murder and one count of rape “with deadly force.” Boone County deputies and
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A jury found a Mexico, Missouri man guilty of drug trafficking and firearm charges on Monday.
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A Rush Hill, Missouri, man faces several charges after he allegedly burglarized a vehicle and barn on someone’s Audrain County property.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – A plea hearing is set for a man accused of killing a baby several years ago in Columbia. Judge Kevin Crane set a plea hearing for Aug. 30 at 1:30 p.m. for Staffone Fountain. He’s currently charged with felony murder, endangering a child and abandoning a corpse for the death of
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) – Prosecutors in Cole County have upgraded the manslaughter charge against a man accused of hitting someone with his car in Jefferson City. Assistant Prosecutor Edward Guinn filed an amended complaint on Friday against Diego Popp of Jefferson City. Popp is now charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, upgraded from the second-degree
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