Moberly warden challenges court against homicide prisoner’s release
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Mid-Missouri prison warden was ordered this week to show that he was not in contempt for not releasing a manslaughter prisoner on bond pending a new trial.
Charles Waddill, 54, of Harrisburg, is being held at the Moberly Correctional Center, according to Missouri Department of Corrections and court records. Waddill pleaded guilty to first-degree involuntary manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and evidence tampering in the 2019 killing of a pedestrian on Range Line Street in Columbia with his car.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison but appealed the decision in January 2022 in the Boone County Circuit Court.
Judge Josh Devine ordered his conviction vacated and Waddill released from prison on the $100,000 bond he had already posted on Nov. 15, court records show. Another jury trial was ordered, records show.
Rusty Ratliff, warden at the Moberly Correctional Center, has argued in court since then that he couldn't release Waddill because Devine lacked jurisdiction to order Waddill's immediate release and that the order for the warden to "show cause" for not releasing Waddill was "inappropriate" and "premature."
Presiding Judge Brouck Jacobs signed an order for Waddill's release on Dec. 4 but the warden resisted the release. Waddill's attorney asked Jacobs to hold the warden in contempt the next day, leading Jacobs to order the warden to explain his actions.
A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Waddill's attorney, James Wyrsch of Kansas City, declined to comment on the record about the case. Attorneys for the state and county did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The guilty plea was withdrawn after the court agreed to Waddill's claims of alleged denial of due process and ineffective counsel. A judgement alleges that Waddill's attorney, John Rogers, and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicholas Komoroski had a misunderstanding over the term "open" during their negotiations.
Court documents indicate that Rogers thought the term "open" would have been related to a sentence of "no more than seven years," and had allegedly told Waddill to reject an offer that did not include a seven-year cap. Waddill was told by his attorneys before and after the plea, that the plea bargain would allow him to withdraw his plea if the court did not accept Komoroski's recommendation.
