On April 14, 2011, House Bill 257 (HB 257) was perfected and passed by the Missouri House of Representatives. HB 257 is designed to repeal the provisions regarding the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission (MoSAC). Recommended sentences made by MoSAC are often woefully inadequate in heinous cases, and an emphasis is placed on reducing prison sentences for budgetary reasons.  If the MoSAC is abolished, Courts would still be able to gather a pre-sentence investigation report about defendants before making a decision on an appropriate sentence.

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FULL TEXT OF HB 257 FOR ELIMINATION OF THE MOSAC

Ozark, MO – Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite is excited to announce that the office has completed its first week of paperless operation. On Monday, April 4th, any and all documents that would normally be in a file were scanned into the computer system operated by the prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors began taking laptops to court instead of files.

The goal and purpose of a paperless office is efficient and effective prosecution. A paperless office provides quick access to all files and data necessary to prosecute a case. During these current economic times, a paperless office costs less to run than a conventional office. Fite had made it one of her primary goals to accomplish in the first year of office. Fite stated “I had wanted to have this done by September 1 but we have done it five months ahead of schedule” Fite acknowledged that First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Chris Lebeck was instrumental to this accomplishment. “Chris has worked tirelessly to get this done timely and cost effectively. I am very fortunate to have him on my team” stated Fite.

Despite a reduced budget from last year, the office went paperless without requesting any additional monies from the county commission.

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