Speaking Personally: Justice failed the police, the public, and the deceased

I know we all get excited when the TV news comes to town. I get it. It’s unusual and exciting. Hometown newspapers, however humdrum we may seem, do have one advantage. We see – and report—patterns the out-of-towners miss. 

 

That’s why last week when other outlets were splashing press releases all over our screens about the pursuit that ended in an officer-involved shooting, this publication was the only one to connect the dots that the deceased, William Warfel, was on the front page the week before for similar behavior. 

 

In a world where we are all so quick to blame the police, I have to wonder – because I truly do not know – if some of the decisions officers made during the pursuit that night were informed by this individual’s very recent, very dangerous actions. 

 

On August 19, Warfel led a State Trooper on a pursuit that reached 120 mph, and when he was finally corned in a fenced parking lot in Willow Springs, he took off on foot, gun in hand. 

 

Somehow, he managed to post a $100,000 bail and get his hands on another gun. Then, West Plains Police tried to pull him over after they watched him participate in a reverse sting drug deal. 

 

He ran again. 

 

And he died that night.

 

To me, the story here is not so much the officer-involved shooting, or even the fact that the cops shot first. 

 

How did a repeat offender from the St. Louis area get out of jail on one of the highest bond amounts I’ve seen in this county for resisting arrest and drug charges? And then how did he get his hands on a gun, and get plugged in to an, albeit staged, drug purchase?

 

How did this happen in safe and sleepy Howell County?

 

It’s keeping me up at night because this is not a particularly rare occurrence. Over the years, we’ve reported on multiple offenders who re-offend while out on bail or probation. When Howell County News hosted a debate for judicial candidates in July, a frequently submitted question was why the county has a reputation for being a catch-and-release system and what we can do about it.

 

Of course, the solution can’t be as simple as giving every defendant a sky-high bond or no bond. In the first place, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that bond amounts aren’t supposed to be punitive. The criminal justice system presumes innocence until the defendant is found to be guilty. 

 

The fix is not a local one. It has to come from higher courts. 

 

As I sat down to write this column, the news broke of the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to put a voting district map on November’s ballot. Immediately, politicians are calling it disappointing. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway released a statement almost immediately claiming the decision violates federal law.  

 

Our State Senator Brad Hudson is calling for court reform because of the decision, noting that he filed a bill last session that didn’t get any traction. He hopes this decision will give his court reform plan some momentum in the upcoming session. 

 

Respectfully, Senator, read the room. 

 

The people of Missouri will get on board for court reform, but not for the purposes of political posturing. Even if I agree that keeping the roles of the legislature and the courts separate is tenent of democracy worth defending, you’re missing the point.

 

A man died in Howell County last week. Multiple law enforcement officers are physically unharmed but suffered untold mental and emotional damage as they chased and eventually shot this poor soul. The screaming over the police scanner isn’t something I’m likely to forget. Living through it must have left a permanent mark on the officers involved.

 

Our criminal justice system failed William Warfel. It failed the police officers, state troopers, and sheriff’s deputies. It failed to keep the public out of harm’s way.

 

Take it from someone whose job it is to get the public to pay attention to what the government is doing – political factions and in-fighting in Jefferson City don’t register for most people. 

 

On the other hand, for most of us – law enforcement officers are friends, neighbors, or kin. And William Warfel was someone’s child. He was a child of God. This stuff matters to us. 

 

We need court reform to address the ever-expanding and unwieldy mental health crisis in Missouri. We need court reform for stronger penalties for assaulting a police officer because a charge like that shouldn’t be a bargaining chip in plea deals. We need court reform to address recidivism because Missouri should be a safe place to live. 

 

Sen. Hudson, if you are serious about court reform, start where Missourians are already paying attention. Look at the cases that leave communities shaken, officers scarred, the public wondering how dangerous patterns keep repeating. Reform should not be a tool for partisan leverage. It should be a remedy to a system that is failing regular Americans.

 

William Warfel’s life of crime and violent death should force us all to ask hard questions. Unlike most Missourians, Senator, the questions you ask are likely to result in measurable change in the near future. 

 

Take this question back to Jeff City in January: what can we change to protect the public from the William Warfels of the world, and what can we do to protect them from themselves?