Court Watch – October 9, 2023

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Today’s Court Watch is for cases filed during the week of October 9, 2023. There were a total of 65 cases. They continued 5 cases. Defendants failed to appear in 55 cases, a rate of 85%. Guilty pleas were entered in 5 cases, of which 2 were pleaded down to a no point violation.

Our spotlight “failure to appear” for this session is Queen-Khadijah Oyola Bulgin. Ferguson charged Ms. Bulgin with driving while suspended or revoked, and without insurance. She has warrants from Dellwood for driving without insurance and failing to register her vehicle in April 2019; from Dellwood for speeding and seatbelt charges later that month; for shoplifting in Brentwood in January 2020; driving while revoked in St. Louis county in January 2022; stealing and driving while revoked or suspended in Florissant in February 2022; driving while revoked or suspended and without insurance in Jennings in March 2022; expired plates and no insurance in February 2023; and expired plates, no insurance, and no license in Chesterfield in April 2023. She has pending felony charges from Riverview for resisting arrest by fleeing, creating a substantial risk of serious injury or death, for an incident in November 2021.

We also took note of Elexus Steed, another frequent dodger of municipal courts. Steed was charged with assault and driving while revoked or suspended in Bel Ridge, in 2019. Court records seem to indicate that she failed to appear, and that a warrant was issued, as an attorney filed a motion to quash warrants in August of this year. A hearing was scheduled for October, but court records do not indicate that the hearing took place. Warrants remain on a Cool Valley case from 2017, where Steed was charged with driving while revoked or suspended, without insurance, and failure to register. Warrants also remain in a St. Ann case from 2017, where Steed is charged with speeding 20-25 mph over, driving while suspended or revoked, and without insurance. In that case, the attorney also punched in, but court records do not indicate that either the attorney or Steed appeared at a hearing scheduled for September 12. In 2020, Steed was charged with trespassing in Ferguson. That case was never resolved, and there is no indication of anyone appearing at a hearing early this December. A warrant was issued after Steed failed to appear in Maplewood on a charge of driving while suspended or revoked, and was withdrawn recently at the request of Steed’s new attorney. There is no record that anyone appeared at a scheduled hearing on this case in mid November. In 2021, Steed was charged by Creve Coeur with speeding 31-35 mph over. Steed’s attorney filed a motion to quash the warrant. A virtual hearing was scheduled for late August of this year, and court records indicate that nobody appeared for the hearing, resulting in an in person summons being issued for November 2. Records do not indicate that hearing took place. Another case from 2021 remains open, for speeding 26-30 over in Town and Country. In 2022, Calverton Park nabbed Steed in the school zone, issuing tickets for speeding 16-20 mph over in a school zone, no insurance, and expired plates. The warrant on that was withdrawn at the request of the attorney, but nobody appeared at a scheduled hearing in late September. In July 2022, the highway patrol charged Steed with speeding 26 mph or more over, and driving while revoked or suspended. And this year, in October, Ferguson charged Steed with running the stop sign at Forestwood and Edgehill, driving while revoked or suspended, and failure to secure a child. Steed failed to appear for the Ferguson cases.

Defendant Ayers Porter Morgan was accused of driving 54 mph on West Florissant at Solway, without insurance. He failed to appear for his Ferguson cases. He had a hold on his license from a 2017 case in Normandy for failure to register his vehicle. In September of last year, Florissant ticketed him for 6 offenses, including driving while revoked or suspended, no insurance, and failure to register his vehicle. On October 4, Florissant again ticketed him for driving while revoked or suspended, and no insurance. It is unclear why Ferguson did not cite him for driving while revoked or suspended. He has warrants for failure to appear in all of his previous traffic cases.