Our municipal court is an important part of the full public safety picture in Ferguson. In this ongoing series, we analyze a weekly docket in our city’s court. Because there is a delay between filing of charges, hearings, and posting of results to Casenet, our analysis will always be for cases a couple of months in the past. Today’s analysis includes the 18 cases which were filed the week of July 31, 2023.
Of those 18 cases, 9 defendants failed to appear, 50%. There were two additional cases for which the court records reflect neither an appearance nor a failure to appear, with no disposition on the case at all. All cases were traffic related. Of the cases which were disposed, one was continued, four pleaded guilty as charged, one pleaded guilty and had the charge amended to a parking offense, and one was a refiling of a 2019 “no insurance” case and paid a $150 fine.