WARRENTON — A year ago, Warren County Presiding Judge Jason Lamb received an angry letter from a mom. The woman was upset that the man accused of sexually assaulting her daughter on three different occasions hadn’t yet gone to trial.
The girl was 9 when three felony charges of first-degree statutory sodomy were filed against John K. Wilmes Jr. By the time the mom wrote the judge, the girl was already 15.
“My daughter and I have been waiting for justice since 2016,†the mom wrote the judge. “The defendant has been walking freely after sexually abusing my daughter after making $150,000 cash only bail. When you were being elected and I contacted you and you promised to put child cases at the front of the line and that didn’t happen. … This has taken an unbelievable toll on us. … We are angry, in turmoil, and suffering greatly because of Warren County.â€
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It’s been a year since the mom wrote that letter and there has been no movement on the case. Neither Prosecuting Attorney Kelly King nor Lamb has done anything to bring the case to trial, in a county where the backups in the criminal justice system have become a massive problem.
The mom, who asked that I not use her name to protect her daughter’s identity, called me because of those backups. She read my three-part series last month on the failure of defendants to get a speedy trial in the county, in part because King clogs the system with too many cases, often overcharging defendants, and then refusing to work with defense attorneys on reasonable plea bargains.
The backups are a particular problem for crime victims, the woman tells me.
“There’s really no end in sight,†she says. The woman says King’s office told her the case might go to trial next year. Her daughter, already 16, will be graduating from high school then. “It taking so long has been detrimental to our emotional states.â€
Missouri has a crime victim compensation law that allows people like the mom and her daughter to access state funds for therapy. They did that. But the law has a two-year limit. It’s been seven years since Wilmes was charged. The mom and daughter have moved to another county to feel safe. They are still both in therapy, but for years now, the cost has come out of their own pockets.
At first the delays in trial were sought by Wilmes’ defense attorney. Wilmes has pleaded not guilty in the case. His attorney didn’t return calls for comment. Those early delays weren’t opposed by King. The case was set for trial in 2018; and again in 2019, more than once, but the trial kept getting delayed for various reasons, sometimes at King’s request. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, but unlike most other counties, the delays in trials in Warren County haven’t gotten caught up. Things are so bad that often when trials are set, seven or so are set for the same day, with perhaps one, and sometimes none of them, going forward.
King didn’t return requests for comment for this column. And as of last week, the case is no longer her concern. That’s because Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who has said nothing about the massive delays in justice in the county where he used to be an assistant prosecutor, just gave King a new job in his office, as deputy attorney general.
, Bailey praised King for being “a tough-on-crime prosecutor who has sentenced countless criminals to hundreds of years in prison.†Never mind that any first-year law student knows that prosecutors don’t actually sentence people — judges do that — don’t tell this mom who has waited seven years for a prosecution that King is tough on anything.
“At this point I’ve given up even talking to the prosecutor’s office,†she says. “It’s just excuse after excuse after excuse.â€
She’s angry at King, but also at Bailey, who seemed really interested in helping crime victims in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, when former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner had issues with massive court backups there, but he doesn’t seem to care about what’s happening where he used to live and work.
“It really aggravates me that Bailey is well aware of what’s going on in Warren County and not doing anything to help,†the mom says.
She and her daughter are doing their best to move on. They have good days and bad days, but both of them have the weight of this case on their shoulders, like other crime victims and defendants in Warren County, waiting year after year for their day in court, with no end in sight.
Her fear is that the delays have taken so long, the case will eventually be dismissed.
“Please, please do something,†she wrote Lamb, in that letter she sent in desperation a year ago. The letter is the last entry in the court files of the 7-year-old case. “My daughter needs to see justice happen. She has lost all faith in the process. Please I beg of you to do something. I cannot take any more.â€