Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite announced today that PATRICK AYRES, dob: 07/09/1960 of Highlandville, Missouri plead guilty to the class C felony of stealing. The case was set to go to trial today in Taney County in front of Taney County Associate Circuit Judge Tony Williams. Prior to trial, the defendant announced his desire to plead guilty. The plea was without a plea agreement with the State.

PATRICK AYRES plead guilt to stealing from Sports Boat USA which is a business located in Ozark, MO. He admitted that while employed by Sport Boat USA as service manager he requested payment for two vendors. The two vendors were companies that he either owned by himself or with his family. He agreed with the State that he received money from Sport Boat USA without providing any thing of value in return.

Formal sentencing is set for September 15, 2011. Prior to sentencing, a sentencing assessement report will be prepared by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The class C felony of stealing carries a range of punishment of one (1) day to one (1) year in the Christian County Jail or one (1) year to seven (7) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and/or a fine not to exceed five thousand (5,000) dollars.

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Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite announces that First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Donovan D. Dobbs has just completed training at the National Computer Forensic Institute (NCFI) in Hoover, Alabama. The NCFI is a partnership between the United States Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and the Alabama District Attorney’s Association to train state and local law enforcement, judges and prosecutors in computer forensics and digital evidence. Attendees must be nominated by the United States Secret Service to be eligible to attend the training. Mr. Dobbs was nominated by the Secret Service office in Springfield. He was one of 24 other prosecutors that were chosen out of 188 nominations. Nominations came from all over the United States.

In the week long training, prosecutors are taught not only how computers function but also how data can be retrieved from them. Once this data is retrieved, prosecutors are taught how to interpret the data for presentation in court.

Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite announced today that on May 20, 2011, TIMOTHY KEMNER, dob: 11-01-1975 of Ozark, Missouri was sentenced to life imprisonment by Christian County Circuit Judge Mark for the unclassified felony of forcible sodomy. Probation was denied.

On January 16, 2010, a 13-year old juvenile disclosed that TIMOTHY KEMNER had been sexually abusing her at her residence in Ozark, Missouri. During the investigation, detectives with the Ozark Police Department learned that TIMOTHY KEMNER had been engaging in sexual contact and deviate sexual intercourse with the 13-year old juvenile for at least two years. During a forensic interview of the victim, she disclosed that TIMOTHY KEMNER threatened to cut her throat if she told anybody of the relationship.

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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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