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ESTABLISHED IN 1908 n www.ColumbiaMissourian.com
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Infighting Living with

stalls GOP
House members call pass,” LeVota said.
PROGRESS
“We’re citizens just as much
LeVota refused to divulge who
for the removal of
Speaker Rod Jetton.
actually contacted him. And he
acknowledged that a leadership as the developers are.
By SARAH D. WIRE
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
change is unlikely within the
last two days of the session. It should be easier
But LeVota said the approach
JEFFERSON CITY — The indicated problems for Repub-
disenfranchisement of Repub- licans.
for both sides.” STEPHANIE HINKLE/Missourian
licans in the state legislature “We’re in a real void of leader- Terry baker DeAnna Walkenbach and Terry Baker led a neighborhood
came to a head Wednesday as ship from the governor,” LeVota Past president of Community First group opposed to the West Broadway Wal-Mart.
some House members slowed said. “We don’t know what his
passage of several bills and priorities are. We don’t know
called for the ousting of Repub- what he’s pushing for. And I
lican House Speaker Rod Jet- think the answer is he’s not
ton. pushing anything because he’s
A group of not running for
Republicans anything. Leader-
approached the “Any time you ship is needed to
Democratic lead- run a state gov-
ership about move up in the ernment effec-
whether Jetton tively.”
could be removed, leadership, you Legislative
despite the brief are going to have business slowed
amount of time
left in the legisla- disagreements.” at on
the Capitol
Wednesday
tive session. Rep. Bryan stevenson despite the tra-
House Demo- R-Webb City dition of the last
cratic leader Rep. week of the ses-
Paul LeVota, D- sion being a flur-
Jackson County, said the group ry of activity. Often the last
members were exploring ways days of the session are filled
to send Jetton a message. “They with attempts to pass impor-
have some serious problems tant legislation, but the only
of sticking together, and their public presence of the gover-
major priorities aren’t going nor has been in faxes — the
to pass, which is good for the latest Wednesday was a threat
people of Missouri; and for the to call a special session of the
minority party’s side, we don’t legislature if lawmakers fail
want some of these things to Please see house, page 4A

Police captain
to retire in June
BEN DILLON/Missourian
Allen Hahn, an active member of Woodridge Neighborhood Association, is concerned about the Silver Oaks retirement
community development, which will cover most of the heavily wooded area near Woodridge Park.

Mike Martin’s new job
will be with the state
teachers association.
By JONATHAN RANDLES
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
Columbia police Capt. Mike
Martin, executive assistant to
the chief, announced Wednes-
day he will retire from the
department to pursue a career
with the Missouri State Teach-
ers Association.
Martin said his decision to
leave the department was not
influenced by Chief Randy
Boehm’s announcement Mon-
day to retire July 1 to work as
manager of security for MU
Health Care. The decision was
also not a response to the activi-
ties of the Citizen Oversight
Committee, which is looking
into whether the Police Depart-
ment needs external review, he
said.
When Martin started with the
Police Department as a patrol-
man in 1985, Boehm “was the
first face I saw,” he said. “He
was instrumental in making me
feel at home when I came here.
It’s kind of ironic that we are
leaving one day apart — that
Career history
1985: Martin begins as a patrol
officer at the Columbia Police
Department. He also works as a
field training officer and juvenile
detective.
October 1991: Martin is promot-
ed to sergeant.
April 2000: Martin is promoted
to captain and serves as a patrol
district commander and investiga-
tive commander.
August 2005: Martin begins as
executive assistant to the chief.
He heads the personnel develop-
ment unit, the crisis negotiation
team and the newly formed pro-
fessional standards unit.
June 30, 2008: Martin ends his
career with Columbia police.
members.
Both Boehm and City Man-
ager Bill Watkins said they had
known for months that Martin
was looking at jobs outside of
the department.
“He’s a tremendous leader,”
Boehm said. “He has great
Neighbors across Columbia describe uphill battle in
challenging development projects in their own backyard
By RACHEL HEATON and SARAH PALMER creek Center proposal. The City Council, after hours of
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com negative feedback from neighbors, ultimately rejected the
For neighbors, unlike other stakeholders, the issues sur- developers’ request that they be allowed to put a car dealer-
rounding planning and development are intensely personal ship on land at the eastern end of Stadium Boulevard. The
and emotional. That’s because many of the most controver- council, in denying the proposal, directed the developers to
sial developments in Columbia are happening in their own seek more neighborhood input.
backyards. Many citizens count the Crosscreek vote as a victory for
Neighbors share some common ground with developers neighbors, establishing them as a group that deserves more
and the people who represent them. They believe that many credibility. But it’s certainly not the first time that neighbors
aspects of the city planning process are broken and that have gone up against a developer. Julie Youmans, president
city government needs more of an overarching plan to guide of the Grindstone/Rock Quarry Neighborhood Association,
development, for example. said the lessons learned during every development dispute
Despite some areas of agreement, many are frustrated are important to neighborhoods, which usually have only
with what they see as an arrogant attitude on the part of the one shot at making a difference in their areas.
developers. They often distrust the people who want to build “Once our street has been changed and overhauled, the
near their homes and feel they’re at a disadvantage when issue is over for us,” Youmans said. “We’re not professional
fighting those with deep pocketbooks. planners, so we don’t get to use what we learned on the next
The most recent example of the tension between neigh- project. This is the project.”
bors and developers came during the dispute over the Cross- Please see neighbors, page 4A
“They really haven’t “I look at it and say, “A neighborhood like “There is nothing you
been very sensitive to I’m so glad we did all ours ... is really at a can do to stand up
the neighborhood.” of this work.” disadvantage.” to the developers.”
Allen Hahn Terry Baker Bob Hutton Julie youmans
Active member of Woodridge Past president of Community First Country Club Estates resident President of Grindstone/Rock Quarry
Neighborhood Association Neighborhood Association

Court upholds House repeals village

was not planned.” integrity. I trust him complete-
He said his last day at the ly.”
Police Department will be June Before he was promoted to
sergeant in October 1991, Mar-

law, retains provision

30, and he will begin his new

new murder trial

job July 1 as a field representa-
tive for the teachers associa-
tion. At his new job, Martin will
travel to different schools in
the state as a liaison between
the teachers association and its
tin worked as a patrol officer,
field training officer and juve-
nile detective. In April 2000,
he was promoted to captain The bill could impose the combined bill is uncertain,
however, as it heads back to the
Please see martin, page 4A
Taron Crawford was to Hamilton’s decision but was strict requirements Senate.

convicted in 2004 of
unsuccessful. on sex shops. The main provision of the
legislation would repeal a 2007
“We’re disappointed by the
By DAVID A. LIEB

Glad to be a grad
killing an MU student. outcome, but there’s nothing to
do now but get ready for trial,” The Associated Press
law that has been lambasted by
local elected officials because
By RYAN NEAL Boone County Chief Prosecutor JEFFERSON CITY — Mis- it allows property owners to
and ERIN VAN SICKLE Dan Knight said. souri House members voted escape planning and zoning
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com A jury convicted Crawford Wednesday to repeal a conten- rules by making it easier for

“It’s been a great four years.” A Kansas man convicted of
the 2003 slaying of a MU stu-
dent may get a new trial.
Andrea Yee On Tuesday, the Missouri
MU marketing major and soon-to-be 2008 graduate Western District Court of
Appeals upheld the ruling by
Boone County Circuit Judge
See page 6A for a schedule of Gene Hamilton that Taron
Crawford deserved a new trial
MU graduation ceremonies because of ineffective counsel.
The state had filed an appeal
of killing Charles Blondis in
November 2004 and sentenced
him to 25 years in prison for
second-degree murder and
armed criminal action. He is
incarcerated in Crossroads Cor-
rectional Center in Cameron.
Crawford was at a party on
Nov. 16, 2003, when a fight
broke out between two men over
Please see trial, page 4A
tious law making it easier for them to petition to become their
landowners to incorporate their own villages.
properties as villages. But they The village law, which is sup-
linked it to new restrictions on ported by House Speaker Rod
sexually oriented businesses. Jetton, passed last year with-
Supporters had hoped to keep out scrutiny or discussions. But
the village-law repeal free of it sparked controversy when a
other provisions, so it would southwest Missouri developer,
frustrated by county govern-
have a better chance of passing
before lawmakers adjourn their ment, immediately sought to
session Friday. The future of Please see village, page 4A

Ohio attorney general resigns Outside today Getting it right Index

HEADLINES

Our 100th year/#243

3 sections
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Marc Dann, Ohio’s attorney gener- Today: Occasional rain. Chance The Missourian’s policy is to check all local Abby 7A Nation 3A 40 pages
al, has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harass- of precipitation is 80 percent. stories for accuracy before publication. If Calendar 2A Opinion 5A
ment investigation in his office and his extramarital Temp: 59° you are a source of information, and we Classified 5B Second Front 6A
affair. The 46-year-old Democrat admitted May 2 to an This evening: Cloudy, then grad- don’t double-check it with you, let us know. Comics 7A Sports 1B
extramarital affair with an employee. ually becoming partly cloudy. If you spot a mistake, let us know that, too. Life Stories 6A TV 8B
— The Associated Press Temp: 44° Page 2A Call Tom Warhover at 573-882-5734. Lottery 2A World 8A 6 54051 90850 3
Page 4A — THURSDAY, May 15, 2008 Columbia Missourian

Neighbors: Skepticism greets development

CONTINUED from page 1A
Cautious optimism
When Allen Hahn, chairman of the Woodridge
Neighborhood Association, talks about the devel-
opers of the Silver Oak Senior Living Center, he
uses language that emphasizes the developer’s
plans are only promises. The plan calls for four
buildings altogether — two medical centers, an
assisted living center and a building of apart-
ments for seniors — on 11.25 acres of forest
land.
Hahn’s neighborhood has had sour relation-
ships with developers. On a street east of the
neighborhood, new duplexes with fresh tan sid-
ing pop up behind the back yards of long-term
residents. In a neighborhood where many can’t
see their neighbors’ homes through the dense
tree cover, Hahn points to the scattering of trees
behind the duplexes as evidence of the area’s
problems with development.
“They really haven’t been very sensitive to the
neighborhood at all, and they have not finished
with what they were supposed to do as far as
screening is concerned,” Hahn said of the people
building the duplexes. “That is still an issue, and
we are still working with the city on that.”
The relationship between the Woodridge
Neighborhood Association and the Oklahoma-
based developers of Silver Oaks has mostly been
smooth. They’ve held numerous meetings, and
many of the neighbors’ wishes have been incor-
porated into the plan. Changes included moving
the assisted living building farther back from
the property line and preserving as many trees
as possible by placing part of the forest in a trust
with the city.
But, because of the past experience with the
duplexes, Hahn said he still can’t bring himself to
fully trust the developers. So last week when the
Planning and Zoning Commission recommended
approval of the Silver Oaks plan and rezoning
request, Hahn said he reluctantly agreed.
“The letter of intent, which they have submit-
ted, includes everything that we have asked them
to do,” Hahn said. “This is why we’re cautiously
optimistic. ... They said when they first met with
us: ‘We want to be good neighbors.’”
Although Hahn would prefer to see the forest
remain, he recognizes that Silver Oaks might be
the best his neighborhood can get.
“It would be easy to be a naysayer. But some-
thing’s going to go in there,” Hahn said. “It’s
zoned R-1 at the moment, but they could put up to
30 single family homes in there, and I don’t think
we’d like what would go in there in single-family
homes.”
Contentious relationships
It was first impressions that drove Terry
Baker to take action against plans for the new
Wal-Mart on West Broadway several years ago.
She wasn’t sure the developers had the neighbor-
hood’s interests at heart. She found them arro-
gant and dismissive of neighbors’ concerns.
“I can remember (the developer) saying ‘I
know you all want to continue to see the deer and
the turkey walking in the field, but that’s just not
going to happen,” Baker said.
So Baker wrote a letter to the editor to the
Columbia Daily Tribune. Before she knew it,
people began calling her. After a meeting of
concerned neighbors, Baker found herself the
president of Community First, the organization
formed to oppose the Wal-Mart proposal.
Baker, who describes the relationship between
Community First and the developer as “conten-
tious,” said that although fighting the develop-
ment was hard, it was well worth it. Though
the Wal-Mart now stands at the corner of West
Broadway and Fairview Road, she is pleased, for
the most part, with the results.
“I don’t look at it and say, ‘Oh, what a beauti-
ful addition to our neighborhood.’ I look at it say,
‘I’m so glad we did all of this work,’” Baker said.
“Because it looks good and it has the minimal
amount of the impact on the neighborhood that
we can ask for.”
Although Community First failed to get the
Wal-Mart relocated, they won several conces-
sions. Both Baker and Community First trea-
surer DeAnna Walkenbach feel the neighbors
influenced the development.
“It didn’t have as much landscaping as it does
now. It was going to have a gas station, and
we told them we didn’t want the gas station,”
Walkenbach said. “We got the size of the develop-
ment down. We told them we didn’t want any RV
parking and we didn’t want any outdoor sales, so
they couldn’t have their garden stuff outside.”
History of controversy
Former Third Ward City Councilman Bob Hut-
ton said before his recent experience opposing
the Landmark Acute Care Hospital slated for Old
63, he never recognized the disadvantages neigh-
borhoods have in dealing with developers.
“(Developers) have lawyers, they have PR
people, they have engineers,” Hutton said. “They
have all this paid staff, and here a little neighbor-
hood is just working with volunteers. So a neigh-
borhood like ours, that is opposed to a develop-
ment, is really at a disadvantage if the developer
wants to spend the money.”
Hutton’s neighborhood, Country Club Estates,
has experience. Eighteen years ago they got
tangled in a dispute over a landowner’s request
to rezone land for commercial use.
“He didn’t make any friends,” Hutton said,
adding that the experience affected neighbors’
reaction to the Landmark proposal, which came
from the children of the man who stirred the
controversy in 1990.
“A lot of the neighbors entered into it remem-
bering 1990, and it was not a good relationship,”
Hutton said. “So the relationship was kind of
skewed from the get-go because of that.”
Hutton remains upset by the council’s approval
of the Landmark plan. He thinks increased input
from both sides before the public hearing played
a role in the vote.
“We hammered them, but we weren’t hammer-
ing them near as hard as the proponents were
hammering them,” Hutton said. He cited a cam-
paign by the Chamber of Commerce and a news-
paper ad encouraging people to call their council
representatives as evidence of the strong-arm
lobbying “that’s unheard of.”
More input may become the norm, Hutton pre-
dicted, noting that the council’s rejection of the
Crosscreek plan might have contributed to the
flurry of input in the Landmark case.
Power in numbers
Most successful opposition to development
over time has come from organized groups.
Hank Ottinger, chairman of the recently
founded Old Southwest Neighborhood Associa-
tion, said he sees a trend in Columbia toward
formal organization in neighborhoods. Without
associations, he said, neighborhoods are less able
to engage.
“The neighborhoods that don’t have an official
Julie Youmans, president of the Grindstone/Rock Quarry Neighborhood Association, said
neighborhoods only get one shot at making a difference during development disputes.
association, they may hear about the devel-
opment, they may not,” Ottinger said, noting
that neighborhoods with associations can reg-
ister with the city and receive direct notices of
proceedings on rezoning requests and develop-
ments.
Neighborhood associations not only lend more
weight to residents’ opinions, they also can make
it easier to navigate the complexities of planning
and development.
However, Youmans said, at times it is hard to
get residents to partake in the process because
they feel their opinions are not being heard.
Neighbors have expressed the sentiment that
“there is just nothing you can do in terms of
being a regular resident,” she said. “There is
nothing you can do to stand up to the developers
when they come in.”
Neighbors agree being involved in the process
is difficult.
“It is a lot of work,” Baker said. “It should be
easier, because, again, we live here.”
Although individual neighborhood associations
are a start, some activists are beginning to think
a larger organization of neighborhoods might
put them on a level playing field with developers,
who are represented by the Central Missouri
Development Council.
“At the moment there’s no analogous organiza-
tion to the (development council), although we
have given thought to a neighborhood council,”
said Hahn, chairman of the Woodridge Neigh-
borhood Association.
Calling for change
At its last meeting, the City Council took steps
toward revising the city’s process of consid-
ering development requests. After discussing
the suggestions laid out in the 2006 Process
and Procedures Stakeholders Committee report,
Fourth Ward Councilman Jerry Wade formally
introduced a plan for implementing three of the
report’s suggestions at the May 5 council meet-
ing.
SAIT SERKAN GURBUZ/Missourian
The plan focuses on increasing public capacity
to participate, exploring mediation as an option
for the community and eliminating redundant
public hearings. The council set target comple-
tion dates for each item and hopes to have the
whole thing wrapped up by the fall.
Neighbors, though, have their own suggestions
for how the city might improve the planning
process.
“Nobody knows what page anybody’s on,” said
Community First treasurer Walkenbach. “That
is the key problem, that everything is decided
on a case-by-case basis because we don’t have a
comprehensive development plan.”
Baker, president of Community First, feels
that adding to the conflict between neighbors
and developers is a back-and-forth game of “he-
said, she-said.” She suggested mediation as an
option that would help communication between
both sides.
“I think if the city sponsors mediation, and
that is someone who is obviously a neutral party
who’s to sit down with the neighborhood group
and developers, in a sense it keeps them both
honest,” Baker said.
As a liaison for community members, as well
as a city employee who sees the planning and
development process firsthand, neighborhood
specialist Bill Cantin said he understands the
complaints of both neighbors and developers.
He said the two groups are often at odds, but he
thinks there is common ground.
“The developers will say the city is too hard on
them; neighbors will say the city is too easy on
them,” Cantin said.
He said if the city made more efforts to edu-
cate and communicate with both groups, the
process might be less contentious. Eliminating
tension is something all the stakeholders see
as important. They agree the time for change
is now.
“I think this is a ripe time for the residents
of Columbia to get together and say, ‘We know
there’s going to be development, but let’s make
it the right plan,’” Hahn said.

Village: Bill would bar Martin: Job stability was key

nudity at strip clubs
CONTINUED from page 1A
turn his land near Table Rock
Lake into a village.
Since then, another developer
near the eastern Missouri town
of Washington also has sought
to turn his property into a vil-
lage. Several property owners
have done the same in Camden
County near the Lake of the
Ozarks, including one man who
wants his property to become a
village so his mules can roam
freely as a method of weed
control without violating local
ordinances.
Rep. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa,
said about a dozen landowners
pass an untainted repeal of the
village law. But House mem-
bers voted 88-57 to retain a
provision imposing strict new
requirements on sexually ori-
ented businesses.
That occurred after Jetton, R-
Marble Hill, urged lawmakers
to support the restrictions on
strip clubs. It also came after
Rep. Michael Frame, D-Eureka,
expressed concerns that law-
makers who voted against the
sex shop restrictions, because
of their support for the village-
law repeal, could nonetheless
be smeared by opponents in
political campaigns.
The bill could banish sexually
2005 that were struck down by
the Missouri Supreme Court
because they had been added
to a bill originally crafted to
address “intoxication-related
traffic offenses.” The court
said lawmakers violated the
constitution by changing the
bill too much from its original
purpose.
Sen. Chuck Graham, D-
Columbia, said he opposed the
2005 measure on grounds it
likely would violate the consti-
tution.
House supporters of the vil-
lage law repeal feared Graham
would filibuster the village-law
repeal now that it has been
CONTINUED from page 1A
and served as a patrol district
commander, investigative com-
mander and, since August 2005,
executive assistant to the chief.
Martin heads the personnel
development unit and the crisis
negotiation team. He is also in
command of the formed pro-
fessional standards unit, which
handles complaints against the
department and internal affairs
issues. The standards unit,
which was created in 2007, was
the department’s first overhaul
of the internal affairs process
in more than 20 years. Lt. John
White will run the standards
unit when Martin leaves.
In January, Martin was a
finalist to become police chief
in Davenport, Iowa. He said the
possibility of becoming Colum-
bia’s next police chief was entic-
ing but that ultimately the sta-
bility of his new job was the
right choice for him and his
family.
“The decision to leave was not
easy,” Martin said. “I weighed
the pros and cons of becoming
police chief. It would have been
an attractive job to have, but
there are no guarantees. This
job gives (my family) security.”
Boehm said he is confident
that anyone on the command
level within the department
would be capable of becom-
ing the next police chief and
that Martin would have been a
strong candidate.
“I have no doubt he would
have been seriously consid-
ered,” Boehm said. “I think the
department is certainly losing a
lot of experience.”
The transition from one police
chief to another can lead to sig-
nificant changes within the
department, Martin said. He
has served under four different
chiefs during his career.
“Finding a new chief is a diffi-
cult time,” Martin said. “There’s
going to be change, and change
is going to be difficult no matter
who takes over.”
Change within the Police
Department could be a good
thing, he said; it just depends on
how you perceive it.
“Sometimes change can be
exciting; it just depends on how
people look at it and to embrace
it,” Martin said. “If it’s an oppor-
tunity to make things positive, it
could be good.”

Trial: Victim’s mother plans

are seeking to become villages
around the state.
“If we don’t do something to
repeal it now, there could be 30
of them by this time next year,”
Wasson said. But he added: “If
there’s anything else that goes
on that bill with two days left ...
they’re all probably dead.”
In a somewhat unusual series
of events, the House loaded up
the Senate-passed village law
bill with numerous amendments
Wednesday, then stripped most
of them out in an attempt to
oriented businesses to remote
locations by prohibiting them
from locating within 1,000
feet of a house, school, church,
child-care facility, library, park
or other sexually oriented busi-
ness.
The measure also would
bar nudity at strip clubs and
require seminude employees to
remain on a stage at least 18
inches high and at least 6 feet
away from customers.
Those restrictions are similar
to ones passed by lawmakers in
combined with the restrictions
on sexually oriented business-
es.
But Graham said he hadn’t
reviewed the combined bill yet
nor decided whether to try to
block it.
Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount
Vernon, said he may first try
to pass the combined bill in the
Senate and, if that fails, seek
to send it to a House and Sen-
ate negotiating group to strip
out the section on sexual busi-
nesses.
to attend retrial, however painful
CONTINUED from page 1A
the treatment of a woman at
the party. Shots were fired, and
Blondis, an MU student, was
fatally wounded in the chest.
Police recovered the murder
weapon from the backyard of
the apartment where Crawford
made the right decisions and if
it works out for Crawford then
I am happy for him.”
Smith, whom Crawford’s
family hired in the original
trial, has been disbarred since
the trial — but not for actions
related to his representation of
state could still ask the appel-
late court to reconsider its
ruling, or ask the Missouri
Supreme Court to consider
the case. The Attorney Gener-
al’s office handles appeals on
behalf of prosecutors in the
state of Missouri.

House: Leadership questioned

CONTINUED from page 1A
to reach agreement on a pro-
posal against undocumented
immigrants.
LeVota said he doesn’t expect
a leadership change, but “there’s
some discontent within the cau-
cus.”
Not all House Republicans
said they felt a lack of leader-
ship this session.
“Well, (Jetton) has been a
lame duck, but I think he’s done
a pretty good job of leadership
as far as trying to keep things
going,” said Rep. Brian Mun-
zlinger, R-Williamstown.
Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-
Webb City, said Jetton was an
important part of the Republi-
cans gaining the majority six
years ago.
“He has done a good job with
a very difficult position. It’s not
easy being speaker of 163 rep-
resentatives,” Stevenson said.
“And any time you move up in
the leadership, you are going to
have disagreements.”
Despite the words of assur-
ance, the divisions among
House Republicans were appar-
ent Wednesday as the Repub-
lican leadership did not even
attempt motions to close off
extended debate that was stall-
ing House action.
Halfway through the day, lob-
byists had left both chambers
and moved to the building’s bal-
cony to enjoy the May sun and
small bottles of Bud Light.
was staying.
During Crawford’s first trial,
the defendant’s attorney, Rod-
erick Smith, objected when
Knight questioned Crawford
about the reliability of other
witnesses. Hamilton overruled
the objection, and Smith failed
to continue to object.
The court on Tuesday ruled
that prior counsel was ineffec-
tive because of his lack of per-
sistence.
“The fact that I objected
but did not continue to object
apparently warranted their
(the court’s) decision,” Smith
said. He added, “I am sure they
Crawford.
Alba Blondis said Knight was
dedicated to her son’s case and
did a good job in his origi-
nal prosecution. She lays the
responsibility for the retrial on
Hamilton’s shoulders.
“I’m perplexed by his change
of mind,” she said.
She said she saw the reason-
ing for the retrial “as a manipu-
lation of the justice system. ...
This is a failure of our court
systems to support the victims
of a crime.”
Knight still has some
options.
Assistant Attorney General
Shaun Mackelprang said the
“Over the next 15 days we
will consider whether a motion
for rehearing to the court
of appeals, or an application
for transfer to the Missouri
Supreme court, is warranted,”
he said.
If the retrial does proceed,
the Blondis family plans to
attend. But Alba Blondis said
it will be a painful experience
for her.
“I have to sit in a courtroom
and look at (Crawford),” she
said. “It dredges up all the emo-
tions and the pain of what hap-
pened.”