The Long, Tragic Courthouse Journey of Dorothy Twala Kee

By Mike Martin for the Columbia Business Times

By now, you’ve probably heard of the Columbia Citizens Police Review Board, a newly-formed city commission charged with reviewing complaints against police officers.  Problem is, the review board’s task is one-sided.  Without an equally-empowered Columbia Citizens Judicial Review Board, for instance, the problem of rising crime and what to do about it becomes only more imbalanced.

As any police officer will tell you, the keys to effective law enforcement reside not with the cops, but with the courts, a situation nowhere better illustrated than in the convoluted 20-year courthouse journey of Columbia resident Dorothy Twala Mercine Kee.   For Kee, the Boone County Courthouse is a revolving door circus of trial continuations, revoked probations, failures to appear, suspended sentences, and frustrated police.

“We found drugs in her house again,” a Columbia police officer told me about Kee a few weeks ago, with frustrated resignation. 

Last September, Man, woman arrested as police seize crack blared a Columbia Daily Tribune headline.   “Police found crack cocaine on 38-year-old Dorothy Kee.   Kee was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.  She was later released from the Boone County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond.”

Released yet again to return to her ramshackle home, where the gas meter was removed over a year ago.   Surrounded by quiet, law-abiding neighbors, Kee’s home sat vacant for over 5 years during her most recent prison stint.  Frozen sewage burst through the cleanout pipe in the front yard, and a tree grew up through the side of the house.

It was the same tree that Kee's deceased mother and father, Dorothy and Roy, worried would crack the foundation back in 1995, when United Way Day of Caring volunteers cut it down for free.  Back then, Dorothy Twala's mom, then 68, was in a wheelchair and her father Roy, then 63, was blind.  Their caring and sharing story also made the Columbia Tribune:

http://archive.showmenews.com/1995/sep/19950929news12.htm

Casenet—an online summary of Missouri court activity—provides a window on Dorothy Twala Mercine Kee’s life as a de facto ward of the courts, mostly since her parents died and left her the family home.   It's eye-opening and tragic. 

Represented by a public defender, Kee often doesn’t show up for her hearings, instead bouncing from continuance to continuance—a judicial term for changing a trial or hearing date to some future time. 

When she does finally appear -- in front of Judges Frank Conley, Larry Bryson, Gene Hamilton, Gary Oxenhandler, and Deborah Daniels over the years -- Kee hops from suspended sentence to suspended sentence, reprieve after reprieve, in and out of a fractured freedom that encourages, not rehabilitation, but self destruction.  The dockets from her three latest arrests look like this:

Hearing Continued/Rescheduled
05/20/2009
DEFENDANT FAILS TO APPEAR. DEFENDANT REQUESTS A CONTINUANCE FOR NEGOTIATION.  WITHOUT OBJECTION CONTINUANCE IS GRANTED. HEARING ON MAY 21, 2009 IS CANCELLED.  CASE IS CONTINUED TO JUNE 10, 2009.

Hearing Continued/Rescheduled
6/10/2009
DEFENDANT REQUESTS A CONTINUANCE FOR NEGOTIATION. WITHOUT OBJECTION, CONTINUANCE GRANTED AND CASE IS RESET TO AUGUST 13, 2009.

Hearing Continued/Rescheduled
7/08/2009
DEFENDANT REQUESTS A CONTINUANCE FOR NEGOTIATION.  WITHOUT OBJECTION, CONTINUANCE IS GRANTED AND CASE IS RESET TO JULY 8, 2009.

Hearing Continued/Rescheduled
8/13/2009
DEFENDANT REQUESTS A CONTINUANCE FOR NEGOTIATION. CONTINUANCE GRANTED AND CASE TO RESET AUGUST 27, 2009. 

Hearing Continued/Rescheduled
8/27/2009
DEFENDANT FAILS TO APPEAR, BOND FORFEITURE ORDERED WITH HEARING SET FOR 09-17-09. 

Kee will undoubtedly be free again to bring her problems back to the family home.  She lives alone, but doesn’t keep to herself.   Neighbors say visitors come and go from the house into the wee hours of the night, and that Kee will sometimes wander up and down the street scantily clad, screaming and hollering, at nothing but shadows and wind.

Twenty Years in the life of Dorothy Twala Mercine Kee

Stealing

6/24/1990
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Incarceration  Jail  (Suspended)
PROBATION ORDERED INSTEAD
Outcome: Probation Revoked

Stealing
7/16/1990
Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Incarceration Jail (Suspended)

Stealing
09/21/1990  Code:  

Disposition:  Guilty Plea - 12/10/1990

Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department
Sentence:  Incarceration Prison 

Length:  3 Years  (Suspended)

Assault 3rd Degree
09/21/1990
Sentence:  Incarceration Jail   (Suspended)

Stealing--3rd Offense
12/20/1991  

Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Incarceration Prison
Length:  4 Years
Defendant Recommend for Treatment 

Felong Drug Possession 
01/11/1991  

Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Guilty Plea

Sentence:  Prison ncarceration 
Length:  3 Years
SET TO ALSO RUN CONCURRENT W/CASE #90-25550

Felony Forgery
06/04/1991  

Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Prison Incarceration DOC
Length:  3 Years
CONCURRENTLY WITH SENTENCE PREVIOUSLY IMPOSED IN BOONE COUNTY, MO

Felony Drug Distribution Manufacture
Date:  09/15/1998  

Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Guilty Plea - 01/04/1999
Sentence:  Prison Incarceration DOC
Length:  7 Years

Trespass—1st Degree
4/09/2006
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Fined $100

Marijuana Possession
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department

4/09/2006
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Fined $200

Use Of Drug Paraphernalia
4/29/2006
Arresting Agency:   Columbia Police Department
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:   Incarceration Jail
Length:  90 Days
EXECUTION OF SENTENCE SUSPENDED AND DEFENDANT PLACED ON UNSUPERVISED PROBATION FOR 2 YEARS.
Outcome:  PROBATION REVOKED AND SENTENCE OF 90 DAYS BOONE COUNTY JAIL ORDERED.

Use Of Drug Paraphernalia
10/18/2006
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Incarceration Jail
Length:  120 Days

Use Of Drug Paraphernalia
12/09/2006
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department
Disposition:  Guilty Plea
Sentence:  Incarceration Jail
Length:  120 Days

Felony Drug Possession
Date:  05/27/2008  

Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department

Disposition: Grand Jury Indictment

Sentence:  Prison Incarceration, 5 Years (Suspended)

DEFT. INSTEAD PLACED ON 5 YEARS SUPERVISED PROBATION

Misdemeanor Theft/Stealing

Date:  05/27/2008  

Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Grand Jury Indictment

Felony Possession Of Controlled Substance
09/05/2008
Arresting Agency:  Columbia Police Department

Disposition:  Not disposed

Misdemeanor Possession Of Controlled Substance
12/03/2008
Arresting Agency:  Boone County Sheriff
Disposition:  Not disposed

Felony Resisting/Interfering With Arrest
12/03/2008
Arresting Agency:  Boone County Sheriff
Disposition:  Not disposed

READERS WRITE:  Panning cameras, Im coverage

Re:  Jeong Im murder suspects tells all

Anybody who has been following this story knows who this MU employee Jerry Davis (a pseudonym) is.  You gave away his ID by saying he is a MU employee; that the women who sought the restraining orders both live on Davis' central Columbia street; and his description of being a bike rider who rarely uses a car.

I highly doubt the guy has it in him to kill a bug or a butterfly let alone a human being for that matter but only DNA evidence and the courts of law can testify to that for proof positive.  I for one do not understand why you had to put this individual out for public review once again whom I know has a personal challenge he over comes daily through all of this or just why he put himself through all of this if he knows in his own heart he is innocent of all wrongful allegations or suspicions.

To each their own but this bringing of this individual back into the public eye is not real journalism and really serves no purpose IMHO other than to re create and rehash old and bad memories for the man in question. Mike Martin you are a good guy but please do us all one favor on this article of interest and please remember where "The Heart" is in "The Columbia Heart Beat."  -- Charles Dudley, Jr., Columbia

Mike:  How about some stats/coverage/stories showing how many cameras are catching repeat offenders in the act of committing a crime?   I find it ironic (and sad) that the crime of the young man beaten in a downtown parking garage was in fact CAPTURED on the camera, NOT PREVENTED by the camera. 

-- David Townsend, Columbia

I personally believe the University Police should investigate Jeong Im's students.  I would bet ANY amount of money a student killed Professor Im.  -- Afton N. Anderson, University of Missouri, St. Louis

Hey Mike:  Thanks again for mentioning the Soul Seat.  It was fun watching traffic spike on my Soul Seat website last summer after you made a mention in Beat Byte.  With good weather the events this weekend should rival Art in The Park.  Keep up the public service. You're the leading edge of journalism.  Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.  --Pack Matthews, Columbia 

I can't believe I voted for 4th ward!   Of course, I live in the county and Heartbeat gives me a chance to sway every decision!.  Nice, crisp candidate descriptions.

-- James Fairchild, Boone County

[Ed. Note:  The poll says "who do you support" rather than "who will you vote for" just for this reason.  We hope Mr. Fairchild will donate to the candidate of his choice.]

Does a mayoral candidate need to gather signatures in order to be on the ballot?   If so how many signatures do they need?

-- F. T. Satalowich, Columbia

[According to the City Charter, Section 122:  Petitions for officials elected by the entire city [e.g. the mayor] shall be signed by not less than one hundred (100), nor more than one hundred fifty (150), registered voters of the city.]

Mike Martin

Blogitor in Chief

The Columbia Heart Beat