Part of a series on domestic violence in Springfield and Greene County. Need help? See related story.
The fact that 44 percent of the domestic assault charges filed in Greene County are misdemeanors — the least serious of the four domestic assault charges — reinforces the abuser's belief that the conflict was never a big deal in the first place.
That’s the view of survivor Janice Thompson of Springfield, whose former husband Greg Marvin beat her, strangled her, threw her into a wall and down a set of stairs and poured cleaning fluid into her face and eyes, according to court records.
In 2018, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for assaulting his ex-girlfriend (a different woman) and shooting the man she was with at the Bass Pro Shops parking lot.
“I hate how a really heinous act of violence will be pled down to a misdemeanor in order to get a conviction,” she said. “Because it allows that person convicted to say, ‘It was no big deal. All I did was maybe push her. There was no injury.’ And people are going to buy that.
“It plays into the idea that we make it up, that we overdramatize, when the reality is that a misdemeanor charge was likely a felony charge to start.”
Tim Stillings is a Harmony House advocate for victims.
“I think it would be hard to not be disappointed if you feel like justice wasn’t served,” he said.
According to a database compiled in January by the Hauxeda, using the state courts’ online system Case.net, of the 397 domestic assault cases from 2022 the Citizen reviewed, 175 were Class A misdemeanors only, with no other charges.
Oftentimes, a defendant is charged with multiple and different domestic assault crimes. The three other domestic assault charges that can be filed are felonies, which carry longer sentences based on factors that include the extent of the injury.
- Domestic assault in the first degree is a class B felony, punishable by 5-15 years in prison.
- Domestic assault in the second degree is a class D felony, punishable by up to 7 years in prison.
- Domestic assault in the third degree is a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.
- Domestic assault in the fourth degree is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.
The number 175 does not account for the number of domestic assault felony charges that have been resolved through a negotiated plea in which the felony charge was reduced to the misdemeanor charge.
Of those 175 misdemeanors, 45 had been dropped from Case.net as of May 26. In all likelihood, they were dropped because the victim declined to testify.
Need to enforce punishment provisions more
The Daily Citizen asked Kyle Kanable, a Greene County family law commissioner, what he would change if he could change one thing regarding domestic violence.
“I’m going to get destroyed as a criminal defense attorney for saying this, but I think that I am a strong proponent of laws that are — if they are in the books, they are there for a reason,” he said.
“I believe that we should enforce the punishment provisions of our laws a little harsher than we do because I personally believe it's more of a deterrent.”
Kanable was interviewed by the Daily Citizen prior to his appointment as a family law commissioner in March.
SES and SIS explained
The Daily Citizen database shows that of the misdemeanor cases resolved as of May 26, about 40 percent received a suspended execution of sentence (SES), meaning abusers do not go to jail if they abide by probation rules.
For example, an SES defendant could be sentenced to 180 days in the county jail. But that sentence would have a suspended execution, meaning the jail time is put on hold. If the defendant follows the rules of probation, they do not go to jail, but they do have a conviction on their record.
Defendants prefer a suspended imposition of sentence to the SES. A suspended imposition of sentence (SIS) means the defendant, for example, could be sentenced to 180 days in the county jail but that jail time is put on hold. If the defendant follows the rules of probation, they not only don’t go to jail but they also do not have a conviction on their record.
This means that if you looked up such a defendant on Case.net, Missouri’s online courts database, the charge would not be there because it’s an SIS.
SES’s and SIS’s are used in both misdemeanor and felony cases.
‘You see him once and never see him again’
The Daily Citizen did not extend its research statewide or do county-to-county comparisons. As a result, it is not known if Greene County prosecutors file the misdemeanor charge more frequently than prosecutors do in other jurisdictions.
Sgt. Chris Rasmussen, who heads the domestic violence unit at the Springfield Police Department, said he is not surprised most domestic assault charges in Greene County are misdemeanors.
“I think it depends on your suspect and the criminal history that's behind it,” he said.
“With a lot of fourth-degree (misdemeanor) charges,” he said, “you see him (the defendant) once and you never see him again.”
It is not entirely accurate to say defendants who receive a suspended execution of sentence on a misdemeanor charge serve “no time” in the county jail, said prosecutor Emily Shook, who heads the Greene County domestic violence unit.
After arrest, those suspected of domestic assault often must spend 24 hours in jail.
Shook said prosecutors review what they believe to be the facts of a domestic assault case to determine the appropriate charge among the four on the books.
“When you look at the statute, when people have sufficient prior domestic assaults, then even misdemeanor conduct becomes chargeable as a felony. And so those misdemeanor offenses are less likely to result in jail time but generally those are also going to be people who don’t have domestic assault history.”
For example, if an abuser has been convicted two or more times of domestic assault/misdemeanor, under Missouri law, any additional charges of domestic assault in the fourth degree can be filed as a felony.
The reality, Shook said, is that the prosecutor’s office must use its resources and the court’s resources as efficiently as possible.
The lesser misdemeanor cases flow through the system faster.
“Misdemeanor cases are resolved much more quickly and use less resources than felony cases,” Shook said. “If we feel we can address the conduct, help protect the victim and help hold the offender accountable with a misdemeanor charge — then we will do that.”
