A Thursday, April 13, hearing is scheduled for Cory Simmons, the Joplin High School student charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Feb. 11 traffic accident in which JHS student-athlete Christina Freeman, a passenger in the car Simmons was driving, was killed. Joplin police say Simmons was driving while intoxicated.
Simmons was bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing last month in Newton County Circuit Court.
6 comments:
So what's that going to decide?
Not a damm thing because it is a pre-trial conference and not a hearing. Turner cannot seem to understand that there is a difference between these two events. All a pre-trial conference is is a kick-the-can type of event to allow the parties time see if they can work out a settlement. On the other hand, a hearing is an actual event where some sort of legal issue is argued and decided.
In theory, the defendant could come into court for his pre-trial conference and enter a guilty plea but, I think it is safe to say, that is not going to happen in this case. In fact, the defense has already filed change of judge and change of venue motions, which may invalidate the April 13th meeting until such time as a new judge is assigned. Certainly, it would seem to be a good indication that the Defense is looking to going to trial rather then pleading guilty.
Once a trial judge is assigned then the next step will be to set trial and motions dates. The trial will probably happen in late spring at the earliest, more likely mid-summer.
I don't know what your problem is, but there was not an inaccurate thing in that post. You appear to have a problem with any coverage of this case. If that's the case, that's fine, but a bit of civility, and a little antacid, might help your disposition.
In response to your response, I think a little bit of historical perspective is called for, previously you wrote the following:
“Simmons hearing set for March 20
A March 20 pre-trial conference has been scheduled for Cory Simmons, the Joplin High School student charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Feb. 11 traffic accident in which JHS student-athlete Christina Freeman, a passenger in the car Simmons was driving, was killed. Joplin police say Simmons was driving while intoxicated.
The hearing has already been delayed twice.”
What I took issue with in the above noted entry was the tone(as evidenced in the last sentence)that the defendant was somehow perpetrating unreasonable and unusual delays in his case. As I noted in my response to the above entry, the PC hearing referred to had not been delayed twice and, in fact, the March 20th setting was the first time a PC hearing had been scheduled at all.
With regard to the accuracy of the current post, I suppose one could say calling a pig a duck is not inaccurate because they are both animals, but that’s not going to make the pig quack. Similarly, calling a pre-trial conference a hearing is no more accurate simply because they are both court proceedings.
In addition, in my view, it becomes misrepresentation when you say a hearing has been continued simply because it was preceded by a number of pre-trial conferences. Since you have done that in the past, I think it is fair for me to assume you are setting up the same claim now.
As to the issue of civility, I have read some of your comments regarding local Republican politicians and it would seem to me you don’t mind dishing out harsh criticisms to others. Ergo, you should be able to take some criticism yourself.
Besides, I dont know what you are complaining about,I gave you some breaking news regarding the Change of Judge and Change of Venue motions. Now, do I get thanked for the scoop? Alas no, instead of gratitude I am subjected to an ad hominem attack.
As to reporting the case, I do wish people could be tried in a court and not in the press but I know that’s a pipe dream. Hence, I would settle for a lack of vilification of a defendant or the court process. Personally, I don’t think it is too much to ask that a defendant not be begrudged for exercising his constitutional rights rather then quietly allowing himself to be railroaded into prison.
I would also point out that your entry clearly did not answer the 5:35 poster’s question as to what the April 13 court date meant. On the other hand, I think my post did answer his question and what’s more it told him what the next court date really was, what was really likely to happen and added some context as to what to expect in the future. So, obviously I don’t mind seeing the case reported, I just would like to see it done well.
Semantics. Any time the defendant or defendant's representation appears in court it's a hearing, period. Thanks for the confusing and useless legalese though. Change of judge requests are so common and so commonly granted, each side usually has two strikes, it's only news if it's denied. Of course the defense is going to ask for a change of venue, it's not everyday that a Joplin high schooler is accused of DUI in a fatal crash, so of course everybody in town knows about it and has an opinion. Great scoop. Randy's only fault here is not explaining thoroughly the reasons for the delay. However, in good journalism practice, since he had previously posted that a Simmons "hearing" was scheduled, he posted to update his millions of readers that it had not occured. Somehow you construe that as Randy passing judgement on this poor kid.
As for this kid being tried in the media. I defy you to find one single post by Randy that villifies Simmons in any way. If there was ever a more fact-based synopsis of a court delay, this is it.
In your world, you'd have everyone believe that the mysterious and evil media supplied children with booze, gave them car keys and pointed them toward large trees just to sell a paper or get advertising revenue. It couldn't possibly be the fault of the parents or, God forbid, the children themselves. Make your excuses, keep blaming the wrong people and continue to misplace your anger and energy.
You know, it's time to stop posting things on here about it.
Thankyou, anonymous, for sort of answering my question...
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