74 Year Missouri Man Has His Life Wrecked by Walmart and the Justice System

[The Midway Rebel]

The power and influence Walmart has in these small Missouri and Kansas towns is frightening. Crime doesn't pay and justice is very expensive.

http://glennstevensisinnocent.blogspot.com/

Three counties drop charges against man in Walmart thefts

For the first time in nearly half a year, Glenn Stevens will wake up today not charged with a crime.

But how long the 74-year-old Raymore man stays that way is yet to be determined.

All three counties that charged Stevens in a string of Walmart heists have dropped charges in the past two days. Morgan County in Missouri led the way Monday after prosecutors decided Stevens was not the man seen in video surveillance at a Walmart store in Versailles, Mo. Stevens also passed a polygraph test. In an earlier story, Stevens and his wife said the family had already spent more than $70,000 on legal fees.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/14/2520930/three-counties-drop-charges-against.html#ixzz18gfLNALJ


Each morning, Irene Stevens of Raymore gets up and checks a Missouri courts website to see if her husband has been charged with knocking over another Walmart.

Irene had never heard of Casenet before July 2. That was the evening police officers showed up at the couple’s home with an arrest warrant for Glenn, the high school sweetheart she married in 1954.

While the officers waited, Irene called Glenn, who cleans office buildings at night to supplement the couple’s retirement income.

Don’t worry, he told her. Has to be some kind of mistake.

“I left my mop bucket and went to the police station,” he said in a recent interview.
Within seconds of walking into the Raymore Police Department, Glenn, 74, was handcuffed and headed to jail, charged with stealing a shopping cart load of electronics from a Walmart in Versailles, Mo.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/25/2471853/theft-charges-create-nightmare.html#ixzz18ggXYnAi


Glenn lost his contracts cleaning office buildings on top of the time spent in jail and about 70k in legal fees. Not to mention the upheval and emotional turmoil this has wreaked on his wife and family.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Poor man. Hope some liberal attorney will take up his cause and file suit against

the counties for false arrest.

[The Midway Rebel]

2. Me too but...

Money will never replace this man's dignity.

[Turbineguy]

3. But think of those poor people in the DA's office

who may not get a promotion because of this case collapsing.

[The Midway Rebel]

6. Usually this treatment is reserved...

for suspects with dark skin. Just sayin'.

[Lisa0825]

4. Oh, I skimmed right past your blog link and got into the story....

Then I saw the blog link in the comments of the story. This is just insane! I hope he sues and rakes it in, if he survives the stress of this ordeal!!!

http://glennstevensisinnocent.blogspot.com/

[The Midway Rebel]

7. Yeah, I did not put the OP together very well.

Mea culpa. Over 1000 posts and I am still a rookie with the OP.

[apocalypsehow]

5. Kick, Rec. n/t.

[KurtNYC]

8. NEVER talk to police without a lawyer. NEVER

ANYTHING you say can ONLY be used against you.

Here is a cop telling you not to and his tricks (this is excerpted from a longer piece):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oA4hvqwi7M&feature=BF&list=QL&index=1

"off the record" !?

edit to swap to prior video clip covering innocent people talking to police

[The Midway Rebel]

9. Yeah, amazing....

That an INNOCENT, 74 year old retired working class Joe from small town USA did not know better. Or, is it?

[KurtNYC]

10. I'm not blaming the victim here

just passing on a warning from police officers NOT to talk without a lawyer -- Innocent or not.

It is a very common mistake to think 'hey I'm innocent therefore it can't hurt to talk'

[The Midway Rebel]

11. Yeah I know.

I am just pointing out that this scenario/experience is/was totally outside the realm of possibility for an average 74 year old guy like Glenn Stevens.

[REP]

14. Really? He was in his 30s in the 60s - not trusting the fuzz is not a new idea

I'm not blaming the victim either, but I was raised by parents of his generations, who taught me that Officer Friendly is not your friend, and to always ask for a lawyer. A lot of people from that generation learned to distrust authority.

[The Midway Rebel]

16. I was too and I was taught the opposite.

Real life and "lawyers" on the internet are what taught me differently.

ETA Maybe Glenn should have hung out at DU. :hi:

[blondeatlast]

13. That's great stuff; thank you! nt

[KurtNYC]

17. That clip is still not the one that talks about innocent people

getting caught up. Maybe the part with the prof has him saying something like "let's say there is a murder and they ask you 'did you do it?' you say 'no I was in Springfield' -- Okay how did you know the murder happened while you were in Springfield ? and how did you know that the murder was not in Springfield? (unless of course you were in on the murder)"

[blondeatlast]

19. I watched that one too; it's the first. I'm going to watch them all

and my son (also a legal geek and I'm a paralegal) although not in criminal.

The guy's pretty entertaining, too.

[BlueIris]

20. Thanks. I will do just about anything to avoid talking to police,

and I have a special file on how to protect myself from police abuses.

[progressoid]

12. good lord

...but Baird said a possibility exists the case could be refilled when a new prosecutor takes over Jan. 1.

:banghead:

[HopeHoops]

15. Maybe WalMart will make it up to him by offering him a job in a sweatshop in China.

Fuck WalMart.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. k&r