Lincoln County Circuit Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer was embroiled in a dispute with public defenders. She tried to coerce and intimidate them, and then, presumably due to the feud, she improperly delayed defendants’ cases beyond the deadline for them to seek a new judge, according to a recommendation before the Missouri Supreme Court.
The accusations against Mennemeyer are serious and call into question her competency for a job in which citizens’ lives and futures hang in the balance. And the problems cited by the are hardly the only ones she’s encountered on the bench.
A handful of appeals courts have ordered people released from prison in cases where she improperly ordered them held. She was the judge in the , who was convicted of murdering his wife in 2013. He won a new trial and was acquitted last year because Mennemeyer did not allow his lawyers to present evidence pointing to another possible suspect, Pamela Hupp.
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The disciplinary commission is recommending Mennemeyer’s suspension without pay for six months — a rare punishment — for “serious” and “troubling” violations that forced some defendants to stay in jail, at a cost of up to $45 a day, while she delayed their cases.
A judge is the most powerful figure in a courtroom and must ensure the fair application of justice. Her punishment would help restore public confidence and send a loud message that defendants’ rights matter.
Mennemeyer’s dispute with public defenders is over the way they handle serious probation-violation matters in the 45th Judicial Circuit. Typically, public defenders represent defendants in such cases if they have previously represented them in the same or another case. She interpreted state law to mean that a public defender’s representation required a judge’s authorization. The disciplinary commission says she was wrong and termed her actions an “obvious and oppressive abuse of power and denial of due process.”
Her hostility toward public defenders imperiled their clients. She told the director of the State Public Defenders Office that a request to meet to discuss representation was “presumptuous” and “a joke.” She emailed the head public defender for the circuit threatening to file a complaint against any public defender who tried to handle such cases.
Mennemeyer, a Republican who made $146,000 last year, defeated Democratic challenger T. Bennet Burkemper Jr. by 231 votes among more than 29,000 cast in 2012. She was previously in private practice. Her term expires in 2018.
Judges elected in partisan contests must win re-election to remain on the bench. The disciplinary commission is among the few ways to hold them in check. Assuming the Supreme Court follows through as it should, voters must remember Mennemeyer’s dubious record if she contemplates running again.
