Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Accused Lamar killer was freed on his own recognizance after violating protection order

The man accused of killing a 33-year old Lamar woman today was freed without bail less than two months ago, despite the pleas of Barton County Prosecuting Attorney Steven Kaderly.
Barton County Circuit Court records on case.net indicate Roy Leon Willis, 37, Lamar, was arrested Oct. 19 by the Lamar Police Department, charged with violating a full order of protection. At a hearing five days later, court records show Judge Charles Curless released Willis on his own recognizance despite the prosecuting attorney's recommendation.
Court records show Willis failed to show for a Nov. 13 pre-trial hearing. At that point, Judge Curless issued a warrant for his arrest and set his bond at $5,000.

The alleged protection order violation occurred only 52 days after Willis pleaded guilty on Aug. 28 to third degree domestic assault in Vernon County Circuit Court for an incident that occurred July 30. Court records show the charge was amended, indicating Willis was initially charged with a more serious offense. Judge Neal Quitno, a former Vernon County prosecuting attorney, gave Willis a suspended sentence, and then placed him on two years of supervised probation. One of the requirements of the probation was that Willis enter an impact program, something he did, attending his first meeting Sept. 19.

Willis received the suspended sentence four days after three ex parte protection orders were issued against him, one for an adult and the other two for children, in Barton County Circuit Court. The records do not indicate if the adult was Kelly Dawn Wolfe, 33, who was shot to death this morning. A full order of protection in the three cases was issued Aug. 29, the day after Willis' guilty plea in Vernon County.

According to the Joplin Globe, Willis remains in critical condition at Freeman Health Center in Joplin after shooting himself in the head.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:41 AM

    All I gotta say is he better live!!!!!

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  2. Anonymous3:28 PM

    He died today.

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  3. Anonymous6:11 PM

    At least the tax payers won't have to pay for millions of dollars in medical bills and to keep him in jail. He will never ever be able to hurt anyone else.

    THANK GOD

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  4. Anonymous4:58 AM

    You must remember that in every situation there are two sides!!! He happened to have left behind family that loves him VERY MUCH. And actually, there are a lot of people who are STILL hurting from this ordeal. Most of us will NEVER recover...Untill it is you or your family in this situation; you have NO right to judge. This is a case of a failed justice system!!! He asked for help. They BOTH did. May their memories be cherished.

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  5. To the comment above that states there was two sides. No there was one. He killed my mother. Someone everybody loved yeah he died too, but what he got he deserved. Do you know how old I was when my mum was murdered? I was 7 I've lived 9 years with out my mother. There was one side to this story he murdered my mother because she didn't want to be with him, he beat her every single night. Don't ever put my mums name Dow. In a post where you think he should rest in piece, he had no right.

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