This complaint is filed with the Chief Disciplinary Counsel against prosecutor, Jeff Merrell for his actions in the alleged criminal matter before the 38th Judicial Circuit Court in Taney County Missouri. The ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE is facing false charges of child abuse and neglect and felonious restraint. RUSSELL L DOVE is being denied Due Process of law by prosecutor Jeff Merrell, and otherwise being thwarted in his good faith attempts to answer those false charges.
As a prosecutor, Jeff Merrell is under the jurisdiction of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel pursuant to the provisions of the Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8 Sections (a), (d) and (f). In the scope of authority of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, this complaint involves:
- Malicious prosecution as Jeff Merrell
prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by
probable cause (or substantiating evidence)
- Contempt of Court as Jeff Merrell has
twice ignored instructions given to him in court proceedings by
Judge Mark Orr.
- Willful and persistent failure to
perform duties in upholding the obligations of his office to see
that the defendant is accorded procedural justice and that guilt is
decided upon the basis of sufficient evidence
- Withholding evidence or information
known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the
ACCUSED from discovery
- Making extrajudicial comments that have
a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the
ACCUSED.
I. On the issue of Malicious Prosecution
The charges against the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, are related to an incident that occurred on April 12, 2010 that involved a warrantless, forced entry into the home of RUSSELL L DOVE’S neighbor, Christie Czajkowski, by Taney County Sheriff Deputy, Darin Carter, followed by a violent physical assault on Ms. Czajkowski by deputy Darin Carter. The incident resulted in the arrest of two neighbors (RUSSELL L DOVE and Brad Ward) on false charges that witnessed the physical assault on Ms. Czajkowski by Deputy Darin Carter. In executing the arrest in the course of a custodial interrogation, Deputy Darin Carter failed to read Ms. Czajkowski her Miranda rights, or inform here that she was free to end the interrogation at any time. This was a direct violation of procedure pursuant to the United States Supreme Court cases U.S. v. Craighead, 539 F. 3d 1073 (2008) and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444-45, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966).
These unlawful actions by deputy Darin Carter were compounded in the removal of Ms. Czajkowski’s children and termination of her parental rights without legal cause by Associate Circuit Court judge, James Justus, in an exparte proceeding conducted without notice to Ms. Czajkowski. As a result of that illegal proceeding related to the incident of April 12, 2010, Jeff Merrell has become aware of the huge potential legal liability to various public officials that acted illegally under the authority of the State of Missouri (himself included). The outright unlawful and unethical tactics of the prosecutor in the proceedings of this matter go to the desperation of the dishonorable prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, in attempting to conceal the criminal misdeeds of his office, the Office of the Sheriff of Taney County, and the Department of Social Services, Children’s Division of the State of Missouri by railroading the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, into prison for an alleged crime that he did not commit. Mr. Merrell either knew or should have known that the violent, illegal, and unprofessional actions of Taney County Sheriff Deputy Darin Carter in committing a forced entry into the home of Ms. Czajkowski and the physical assault on Ms. Czajkowski in the course of conducting an “investigation” were violations of the 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th Amendment Rights of Ms. Czajkowski. So it follows that the subsequent illegal proceedings in violation of the Rights of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, are being perpetrated in an attempt to justify the actions of the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, and the aforesaid officials of Taney County Missouri against Christie Czajkowski in order to avoid a potential legal liability to said officials of Taney County Missouri.
By due diligence in the course of conducting a proper investigation in his official capacity as prosecutor of Taney County, Jeff Merrell should have ascertained that the statements of the complaining witnesses were lacking in veracity. Christie Czajkowski and her neighbor, RUSSELL L DOVE, were interrogated by Taney County Sheriff department, but their statements as to the events that occurred were ignored. Ms. Czajkowski’s other neighbor, Brad Ward, was never interviewed about the incident of April 12, 2010 by any officials of Taney County Missouri to ascertain all of the details related to the incident of April 12, 2010. This one-sided “investigation” demonstrates that the alleged investigation was looking for ways to railroad the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, from the very start. The prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, acted upon information received from complaining witnesses of questionable reliability and character living in the same place as the ACCUSED and the statements of Taney County Official’s of what they claim the two pre-adolescent children that were rebelling against their mother supposedly said. In his official capacity as prosecutor, Jeff Merrell acted upon this hearsay evidence without bothering to verify any of the information. In this regard, Jeff Merrell failed to uphold the special responsibilities of a prosecutor in that Jeff Merrell did not “refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.” Jeff Merrell’s failure to conduct a proper investigation before bringing charges against the ACCUSED is a clear violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8, and 4-3.8 (a) as this constitutes an outright denial of procedural justice to the ACCUSED and an attempt by the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, to make certain that the ACCUSED is perceived as being “guilty” and that the “guilt” is not decided upon the basis of sufficient evidence. In pursuing this matter without conducting a proper investigation, Jeff Merrell is prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.
Furthermore, his relentless pursuit of these unsubstantiated charges goes to the malicious nature of this prosecution. Through his actions in the proceedings, Jeff Merrell has demonstrated his awareness of the fact that he must get a conviction of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, at all costs in order to justify his actions against Christie Czajkowski.
II. On the issue of Contempt of Court by the Prosecutor
In the arraignment hearing of February 16, 2012, the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell was ordered to provide the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, with discovery after the agent for the ACCUSED cited Pitts v. Williams, 315 S.W.3d 755, 759 315 S.W.3d 755 (Mo. App. W.D. 2010). The prosecutor provided a partial discovery that he presented as being full discovery that contained 135 individual documents and exhibits. In another arraignment hearing on June 26, 2013, the agent for the ACCUSED revisited the issue of discovery as it related to the repeated insinuations by the prosecutor that the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, had committed alleged sexual offenses for which he had not been formally charged. After the agent for the ACCUSED cited Pitts v. Williams again, 38th Judicial Circuit Court Judge, Mark E. Orr, ordered the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, to give the agent for the ACCUSED full discovery1. The prosecutor complied with the order to provide discovery, and this time the discovery contained 450 individual documents and exhibits. This was a violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8, and 4-3.8 (a) as the prosecutor did not accord the ACCUSED procedural justice and the prosecutor failed to “make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the ACCUSED or mitigates the offense and, in connection with sentencing, and disclose to the defense and to the tribunal all unprivileged mitigating citing information known to the prosecutor.”
III. On the issue of Willful and persistent failure to uphold the obligations to see that procedural justice is accord the ACCUSED
In bringing these charges against the ACCUSED the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, has from the start of this matter refused to state the cause and the nature of this action against the ACCUSED. The ACCUSED was again denied procedural justice as he was not told the nature and cause of the accusations against him, until July 24, 2013, although prosecutor had lead the Court to believe that he had given the ACCUSED full Discovery on February 16, 2012 after an arraignment hearing before Judge Orr. The prosecutor has also engaged in tactics that are calculated to delay the proceeding in an attempt to put the ACCUSED at a tactical disadvantage. The use of this tactic of Oppressive Delay is most evident in the prosecutor’s denial of discovery to the ACCUSED for a period of over three years in the course of these proceedings in violation of the Missouri Supreme Court Rules of Criminal Procedure 25.01 and 25.02 on discovery and contrary to the decision in Pitts v. Williams, 315 S.W.3d 755, 759 315 S.W.3d 755 (Mo. App. W.D. 2010). This is a direct violation of the 6th Amendment Rights of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, and as such is also another violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4-3.8 as the ACCUSED was not accorded procedural justice. Yet another denial of procedural justice to the ACCUSED occurred in the initial arraignment proceeding for the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, on February 16, 2012 before the 38th Judicial Circuit Court of Taney County Missouri, prosecutor Jeff Merrell, continued to openly violate the 6th Amendment Rights of the ACCUSED to Due Process of law. In bringing the charges, the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell tried to slip in four charges that were previously dropped by Associate Circuit Court Judge, Tony W. Williams in a pretrial hearing back into the arraignment hearing.5 This maneuver on the part of Jeff Merrell was questioned by the judge presiding over the arraignment hearing, Judge Mark Orr, and Judge Orr stated to the prosecutor “I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.” Judge Orr refused to proceed on the charges in question, so Jeff Merrell responded that he would “…just refile them.” This was a violation of the procedure for filing charges a second time, and a violation of the 6th Amendment Right to Due Process of Law of the ACCUSED as Jeff Merrell did not show a good cause nor offer any newly discovered evidence as justification for his refilling of the charges for a second time and the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, was not informed as to the nature and cause of the accusations that have been brought against the ACCUSED for a second time. In his attempt to sneak the charges that were previously dismissed in the lower court back into the record of the higher court, Jeff Merrell, attempted to circumvent the process for the refilling of charges pursuant to the Court Rules Of The 38th Judicial Circuit, Rule 37.7:
37.7 REINSTATEMENT OF CAUSE.
(1) A Motion to Reinstate May be Filed. Within thirty (30) days from the date of dismissal, an application or motion to reinstate the case may be filed. Cases will only reinstated for good cause shown.
The attempt by the dishonorable prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, to slip the four charges that had been dismissed back into the proceeding was a premeditated act as Jeff Merrell attended the arraignment hearing of February 16, 2012 intent upon acting on the charges that had been dismissed6. In reinstating the charges, Jeff Merrell offered no reason for this action and did not demonstrate a “good cause” for the reinstatement of the charges that were dropped by Judge Williams. That refusal to follow court rules on the part of the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, is a flagrant violation of the 6th Amendment Right of Due Process of law of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, and as such is yet another denial of procedural justice to the ACCUSED in violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4-3.8.
IV. On the issue guilt being decided on the basis of sufficient evidence
In analyzing the evidence in the discovery that was given by the prosecutor it is evident that the prosecutor’s case is built on hearsay evidence and circumstantial evidence. The only element that remains consistent in the discovery is that the allegations brought forth by the prosecutor have consistently changed throughout the course of this matter according to the needs of the prosecution at any given point in time. The testimony of the various officials of Taney County and the Department of Social Services Children’s Division of the State of Missouri (DSSCD) conflict with one another and conflict with the video depositions of the alleged “victims” SK and AD. This was in violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4-3.8(d) as the prosecutor failed to “make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the ACCUSED.”7
Another odd thing has been the removal of two key witnesses the DSSCD social worker, Emily Nichols, and the neighbor that originally filed the “anonymous” complaint, Carissa Bayer. Both of these key witnesses have been removed from the list of witnesses that the prosecution intends to call to testify against the ACCUSED. Instead of the key witnesses testifying in the trial proceedings, the prosecution intends to have other parties testify as to what the key witnesses are alleged to have told them8. This is a blatant violation of the 6th Amendment Rights of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, as this denies the ACCUSED an opportunity to confront the witnesses against him. The use of hearsay evidence against the ACCUSED is another count in the denial of procedural justice to the ACCUSED another violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4-3.8, and Rule 4-3.8(a) as proceeding on hearsay evidence is prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.
V. On the issue of evidence or information being withheld from discovery
Throughout the proceedings of this matter, the prosecution has sought to apply creative interpretation to the statutes pertaining to the allegations against the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE. The accusations of abuse of a child against the ACCUSED are ludicrous as there is no evidence to substantiate the charges. Even more outrageous is the fact that the prosecution has gone to great lengths to insinuate that sexual offenses were committed by the ACCUSED again without presenting any evidence to substantiate such allegations. These insinuations by the prosecutor have continued up to my last court appearance on July 24, 2013. Evidence of these outrageous insinuations have appeared nine different times on the Court docket listed as follows:
1-19-12- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
5-16-12- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
8-09-12- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
11-1-12- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
12-12-12- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
1-23-13- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
6-06-13- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
6-26-13- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
7-11-13- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”
7-24-13- Docket Read, “Possible Section 589.405 RSMo. Charge.”9
Revised Statutes of Missouri Chapter 589, Section 589.405 is related to the registration of sexual offenders and reads as follows:
Court's duties upon release of sexual offender.
589.405. Any person to whom subsection 1 of section 589.400 applies who is released on probation, discharged upon payment of a fine, or released after confinement in a county jail shall, prior to such release or discharge, be informed of the possible duty to register pursuant to sections 589.400 to 589.425 by the court having jurisdiction over the case. If such person is required to register pursuant to sections 589.400 to 589.425, the court shall obtain the address where the person expects to reside upon discharge, parole or release and shall report, within three business days, such address to the chief law enforcement official of the county or city not within a county where the person expects to reside, upon discharge, parole or release.
VI. On the issue of making extrajudicial comments that have biased the public in condemnation of the ACCUSED
On January 30, 2012, the folloing report appeared on the web site of a local Branson, Missouri television station:
UPDATE: Child Abuse Charges Dismissed in Case Against Former Internet Radio Host
http://articles.kspr.com/2012-01-30/child-abuse_31007761
TANEY COUNTY, Mo. — A former internet radio host who was scheduled to go to trial Monday on child abuse charges will instead testify against her neighbor. Taney County, MO prosecutor Jeff Merrell tells KSPR the state reached an agreement with Christie Czajkowski to dismiss all charges against her without prejudice in exchange for truthful testimony in the state's case against Russell Dove.
In April of 2010, investigators said Czajkowski asked Dove to tie up her daughters at his house. Police say dove admitted to tying up the girls and spanking them when their mother asked him to. The girls were 11 and 12 years old at the time. Dove is charged with child abuse and felonious restraint. He's scheduled to be arraigned February 16.
This story is written in such away as to make it appear that the former neighbor of the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, has turned state’s evidence against the ACCUSED. The story quotes Taney County prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, as stating that the charges against the former neighbor of the ACCUSED, Christie Czajkowski were dismissed “in exchange for truthful testimony in the state’s case against Russell Dove.” The news report also quotes an unnamed police source as saying that “dove admitted to tying up the girls and spanking them when their mother asked him to.”11
The ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, made no admission of guilt to any law enforcement officers. The ACCUSED did make a statement to police in which he gave a truthful account of what happened, but did not make an admission of guilt to the charges. The quote attributed to Taney County prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, is a documented attempt by Jeff Merrell to bias the public in condemnation of the ACCUSED in order to taint the potential jury pool in Taney County with another insinuation of guilt that is not substantiated by evidence. This is a clear violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4-3.8(f) as this statement by the prosecutor, Jeff Merrell, was not “necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor's action and that serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose.” It should be obvious that this extrajudicial comment will “have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the ACCUSED.” Furthermore, in his capacity as Taney County prosecutor, Jeff Merrell failed to “exercise reasonable care to prevent investigators, law enforcement personnel, employees, or other persons assisting or associated with the prosecutor in a criminal case from making an extrajudicial statement that the prosecutor would be prohibited from making under Rule 4-3.6 or this Rule 4-3.8.” In this case, the statement regarding an “admission” from the ACCUSED, RUSSELL L DOVE, attributed to an unnamed police source.
VII. Summary
In summary of this complaint, I have alleged seven violations of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8, four violations of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8(a), two violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8(d), and one violation of Missouri Supreme Court Rules 4-3.8(f). I have presented this complaint to the Chief Disciplinary Counsel against prosecutor, Jeff Merrell for his actions before the 38th Judicial Circuit Court in Taney County Missouri in the hope that this Counsel will remind prosecutor Merrell that he is not above the law, and that in his capacity as a public official he is held to a higher standard in regard to his adherence to the law. It is my hope that this counsel will maintain the integrity and credibility of the judicial system by administering the appropriate disciplinary action against Jeff Merrell for his clearly inappropriate conduct in regard to the handling of the matter of Case No's 10AF-CR01742, 12AF-CR00675 and 10AF-CR01742-01 – State of Missouri v. RUSSELL L DOVE.
______________________________ Russ Dove, acting agent for the ACCUSED. RUSSELL L DOVE
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