Licking, MO. – More legal drama is swirling around inmates at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking after the warden refuses judge orders to release another wrongfully convicted inmate.
82-year-old Howard Roberts, an elderly inmate at SCCC in Licking, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the financial exploitation of an elderly woman. His sentence was tossed out by Greene County Circuit Judge David Jones in June after a review showed that records and testimonies that were omitted from his trial could have resulted in an innocent verdict. He was ordered released, but the South Center Correctional Center kept him locked up after receiving a phone call from Attorney General Andrew Bailey telling him to not release him.
As a result of ignoring the Judge’s order, the Department of Corrections Director Trevor Foley was found in contempt of court and has until the end of today, Wednesday 14, 2024, to release Howard Roberts, or Foley will be fined $1,000 per day.
This is the third person the South Central Correctional Center and Attorney General Andrew Bailey have refused to release after being ordered to release them. Sandra Hemme’s murder conviction and life sentence was vacated after a judge ruled that evidence pointed to a now-deceased St. Joseph police officer being guilty of the murder. Then a St.Louis Judge overturned Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction and life sentence after ruling that there was evidence of “actual innocence.”
