Medicaid 22 trial could end Wednesday

Jefferson City attorney Jay Barnes, kneeling at left, visits with clients Dave E. Kingsley and Rev. Ester Holzendorf before the start of court proceedings in the case of the "Medicaid 22" Tuesday in Cole County Court.
Jefferson City attorney Jay Barnes, kneeling at left, visits with clients Dave E. Kingsley and Rev. Ester Holzendorf before the start of court proceedings in the case of the "Medicaid 22" Tuesday in Cole County Court.

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, told a Cole County jury Tuesday afternoon: "I don't think anybody broke the law" when a group of demonstrators sang hymns and chanted slogans from the Senate's 4th Floor Visitors Gallery on May 6, 2014.

On Aug. 15, 2014, Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson filed identical Class B misdemeanor charges against 23 pastors - including Jefferson City pastors William (W. T.) Edmonson, now 64, and John Bennett, now 76 - for trespassing and obstructing government operations.

A six-man, eight-woman jury, including two alternates, is hearing the evidence in the case of 22 of those 23 religious leaders arrested during the May 2014 demonstration.

The 23rd defendant was dropped from the current case but could face a separate trial later.

In his opening statement, Richardson told the jury the state's evidence would show "the Missouri Senate - the people's Senate - was conducting its normal business during the legislative session (when) persons in the gallery began chanting and singing loudly and making such a noise that the Senate had to come to a halt.

"They directed that the Capitol Police clear the gallery. The Capitol Police did that, except for 23 persons who refused to leave when they were ordered to leave."

Richardson spent the morning and part of the afternoon presenting evidence through the testimony of a series of present or former Capitol Police officers.

Chief Todd Hurt testified he'd met that May morning with a couple of representatives of the group Missouri Faith Voices, about their plans to hold a rally in the Capitol Rotunda - and "there were going to be some demonstrators coming with the goal of being arrested that day."

Hurt said he was told the people seeking to be arrested would have purple armbands to identify themselves.

And he said the conversation was "kind of cooperative. To me, it was more like he was helping our agency do the right thing to do our jobs that day."

Eight other officers testified to the various roles they played in handling what was described as a "disturbance" in the Senate's Upper Gallery.

Several said they heard singing and chanting that was loud - so loud the Senate had to stop its debate until after the gallery was cleared.

They also testified they had been told some of the demonstrators would not leave the gallery until told they were being arrested, and those 23 religious leaders were processed in the back of the gallery, including having their pictures taken and a records check made to make sure none was wanted on any kind of outstanding warrant or other charge.

As allowed by court rules, defense attorney Rod Chapel - one of three lawyers handling the religious leaders' case - waited until after Richardson had finished presenting his case before making the defense's opening statement.

Quoting Thomas Jefferson, Chapel reminded the jury "trial by jury is the only anchor ever yet devised by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its own constitution."

He then argued the state had failed to make its case, because "nobody seems to know anything. We're going to ask you to find all 22 of these defendants not guilty because they can't tell you who tapped who or who said what to who.

"They can't tell you what people refused to leave."

Former St. Louis police officer Reddit Hudson - who also is a former attorney for the ACLU, although the jury wasn't told that - said he was one of the people who met with Hurt, but none of the pastors intended to be arrested.

"It was my understanding that officers would begin tapping the clergy on the shoulder, and they would leave," he testified.

Richardson asked Hudson if, during his police career, he didn't have to order people to disperse.

Hudson said he had, but in the case of the religious leaders, "I believe they have the right to exercise their constitutional rights. People come to Jefferson City and protest in the Capitol all the time."

Schaefer and state Sen. Shalonn "Kiki" Curls, D-Kansas City, agreed protests happen in the Capitol all the time.

Both told state Rep. Jay Barnes - another of the attorneys defending the religious leaders in the trial - they didn't feel threatened by the May 6 demonstration, even though it was noisy.

Both testified the demonstration interrupted a filibuster, and the Senate broke at about its normal time for lunch and committee meetings, then held afternoon and evening sessions - so they didn't think the demonstrations had interrupted the Senate's normal operations.

Curls reminded the jury of an incident several years ago, when several lawmakers found stickers depicting cross-hairs like those in a gun-sight placed on their office name plates.

Unlike the religious leaders' May 2014 demonstration, the cross-hairs incident made her very uncomfortable, she said.

"There were no arrests, no prosecution" in that case, Curls testified.

Previous coverage:

'Medicaid 23' go on trial today, Aug. 16, 2016

'Rally for dignity' disrupts Senate; 23 arrested in Medicaid demonstration, May 7, 2014