A Plea Hearing for Jessep Carter before the the Honorable James K. Journey, Circuit Judge, is scheduled for 2 p.m., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in the Circuit Courtroom located on the third floor. The plea hearing is continued from Dec. 11, 2017.
Henry County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Shields will represent the state. Defense Attorney is Alice Wasson.
In June, Carter entered a not guilty plea to four charges, during arraignment. The charges include: Resisting Arrest/Detention/Stop By Fleeing-Creating A Substantial Risk Of Serious Injury/Death, Operating Motor Vehicle Owned By Another Knowing Owner Has Not Maintained Financial Responsibility, Operating Vehicle On Highway Without A Valid License-1st Offense and Failure To Properly Affix/Display Tab On Motor Vehicle License Plate.
According to court records, a Henry County Sheriff’s Deputy spotted a pick-up truck driving erratically in the 400 block of Northeast 2 Highway in Windsor on Sept. 10, 2016. When the Deputy tried to pull Jessup Carter over, he allegedly sped away going over 70 mph. When the the Henry County Sheriff’s Department Deputy pulled over the pick-up in the 1000 block of Northeast Highway 2, he found Carter, a woman with a handgun in the passenger seat and Kyler Yust, a half-brother of Jessep Carter seated in the back.
Yust has been charged in the deaths of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions. That was the same day the family of Jessica Runions learned Kansas City Police Department officers had found their missing daughter's SUV burned.
"There was nothing in the system, nothing in the state computer system that alerted us that these people were wanted for anything any different than the traffic violation which we had and the weapons charge on the female," Sheriff Oberkrom said.
One day later, law enforcement officers arrested Yust at a trailer in Benton County and charged him with torching Runions's SUV. Witnesses said Runions was last seen leaving a house party with Yust.
In April, 2017, a mushroom hunter discovered remains in a field in rural Cass County.
That prompted the Henry County Sheriff's Office to look back at the September traffic stop. “Just to see if there was anything else that might be of benefit in that maybe something that was overlooked and talked to the officer that made the stop. Although there wasn't anything else unusual; we did discover there are possibly some other traffic charges that could be filed against Mister Jessep so we did a probable cause statement and got that up to the prosecutor," noted Sheriff Oberkrom .
Courtesy of--The Clinton (Mo.) Daily Democrat, Jan. 3, 2018. Information for this story was gathered by Luke Edwards, Assistant Associate Editor, and Daniel B. Miles, Publisher.
