Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate that when Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, has his first hearing on two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary, it will be before the same judge who let him walk on a probation violation in May 2008.
Court records indicate Judge Richard Copeland approved a plea bargain a plea bargain with Winans that reduced a felony drug crime, committed while Winans was on probation, to a misdemeanor, and allowed him to have unsupervised probation. THe arrest in the case was made by the Jasper Police Department.
Copeland has been assigned to handle the initial hearings for Winans and his alleged partner in the brutal stabbing deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage, Matthew Laurins, 19, Springfield.
As noted in a Turner Report post earlier today, Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate that on March 13, 2008, at a time when he was already serving five years probation for stealing a motor vehicle, Winans was arrested on a felony drug charge, which was later amended to a misdemeanor use of drug paraphernalia. between Judge Copeland sentenced Winans to one year in the county jail, then suspended the sentence, placing him on one year of unsupervised probation, though Winans was already on probation for the other crime. The court records say Winans' unsupervised probation was "unsuccessfully completed."
Winans had already had his probation revoked earlier during the five-year span, according to court records. He was sent to prison on March 21, 2006, for a probation violation, but was released 120 days later.
4 comments:
You violate your probation and you are placed on probation for violating probation? That makes "probation" meaningless.
Diamond Gem
What? Are you kidding me? I thought one of the conditions of being on any probation is to not commit any additional crimes...or your probation is revoked and you go strait to prison. Copeland and the Jasper County prosecutor need to be held accountable to the family of the victims
That judge needs to be taken off this case, taken out of office, and disbarred! The judge himself was a drunk driver and killed two people a few years ago. He is lenient on all drunk drivers and let the Winans kid walk.
This is a continued problem with our judicial system. Example: Two different people commit the same crime and one walks with 1 yr unsupervised probation and the other gets 3 years served. It's not about the crime it's about the arrangement the attorneys can make. In Joplin you'll find most of the legal system is in someones pocket which does not allow everyone a fair and unbiased trial. It becomes more about who knows who than who did what! This is becoming a more common practice in all towns everywhere. Someone gets in some trouble and the attorney always ask " who is the judge? OH, He owes me a favor, let me get with him on Monday and I can probably make this all go away" On the flip side you have innocent people being harassed by the same system because someone knows someone and can have some strings pulled. Another example of this is I personally know a man that was wrongfully accused of stealing something he had notarized documents proving otherwise and was still arrested simply because the mother of the "SO-CLAIMED VICTIMS" knew a local judge that could get another judge to sign off on a warrant! Really! Is this what our judicial system has come to? Let the guilty get off light on violent charges then arrest innocent people forcing them to pay on bonds, attorney fees to defend themselves on charges for crimes they didn't commit and should have never be in the court system anyway! This man will have to defend himself, and his documents proving his innocence won't have a bearing on the judges decision. It's going to be how much he spends on an attorney and who believes who! Our judicial system is a joke. As a study I spent 2 weeks every day in court rooms watching repeat offenders that were currently on probation for violence, weapons charges and drug crimes get reinstated and put back on probation while first time offenders on lesser charges went to jail. So basically if you're a drug dealer and make good money selling drugs you can afford a good attorney. If you're a working man or woman and get a lesser charge and can't afford a high dollar attorney then you're probably going to jail. That takes our judicial system to a financial business rather than a judgement business. I'd have a serious issue having a man judge me that killed 2 innocent people because he has a drinking problem. Thus the reason he's so lenient on DUI charges. He was also seen by a Webb City Police Officer a few years ago at the Cum N Go in Webb City getting gas while intoxicated. Officers exact words, "He was getting gas at Cum N Go and was so drunk he pissed himself while pumping gas"! QUOTE!!! When he reported this to his superiors he was told to just follow him and make sure he got home ok. REALLY!!! What about the people he could have killed on his way home. Sad thing is. This was seen after he had already killed the other 2 people on his drunken binge a few years before. So basically he learned nothing from what he did and has no respect for the laws himself. And he's a judge? Officer that witnessed this is no longer a Webb City Police Officer. He quit WCPD and went to work for another PD up north. When ask why he quit, his reply was "I was tired of being ask to cover things up and harass innocent people" QUOTE!!!! This is just a few of many incidents I have heard people speak of! This country already has enough issues without adding this type of behavior to the pile of corruption! I'm not taking stabs at WCPD. I live in Webb City, therefore I hear all about this from people that are sick and tired of the politicians in this area taking advantage of their power and abusing it. This isn't just in Webb City or Joplin, it's everywhere in cities big and small.
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