Merry Christmas, Michael Devlin

With additional thanks to US District Judge Jean Hamilton, Michael J. Devlin will never, ever see the light of day beyond penitentiary walls for the rest of his life.

In a Federal hearing this morning, Devlin was sentenced to 170 additional years of imprisonment to be served at the conclusion of his current life sentences previously delivered by state courts in October. 

And until Fate delivers Devlin’s final breath, we will celebrate the fact that he will never hurt another child.

Michael J. Devlin was sentenced in October to more consecutive life sentences than he could possibly survive from the multitude of charges handed down in Franklin, Washington and St. Louis counties in Missouri for the abductions and tortures of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.  Devlin pleaded guilty to every single charge.

Today’s sentencing by Judge Hamilton was far in excess of the standard Federal sentencing guideline of 30 years (duly requested by Devlin’s attorneys), and was exceptionally severe punishment for Devlin’s guilty pleas to various still and video pornography charges and for transporting Hornbeck across multiple state boundaries.

Todd Frankel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a nice recounting of today’s hearing here.

With all cases against Devlin now having reached their conclusions, one can only wonder where Devlin will serve his time.  There is even speculation that Devlin may be given a new identity to protect him during his lifetime ahead of incarceration.

Regardless, it is my fervent hope that Devlin lives a long, long, long life…

Michael Devlin Bouncing About

There hasn’t been much information lately about Missouri’s most notorious alleged child molester, Michael J. Devlin, as many of his court hearings have been passed for a while.  However late last week, Devlin was temporarily transferred to St. Louis County to await his arraignment there on those 71 felony counts (69 forcible sodomy and 2 kidnapping) coming next month.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke facilitated Devlin’s transfer last week, but will have Devlin back in the Franklin County Jail soon after the arraignment is concluded.

The best news in all of this is for Devlin’s legal team, led by  Ethan Corlija, who will have a month to meet with Devlin without having to drive an hour or so each way.

As you may recall, the bulk of the state’s case against Devlin resides in St. Louis County, where one count of kidnapping and the vast majority of the sodomy charges relate to Devlin’s kidnapping and sexual assault of Shawn Hornbeck for over a four-year period.  The remainder of the counts relate to his kidnapping and sexual assault of Ben Ownby.  Both boys were miraculously discovered in Devlin’s clutches four days after Ben was abducted.

The entirety of the Franklin County charges concern Ben’s abduction.  Washington County added charges of attempted murder (for trying to suffocate Shawn in his first month of captivity), kidnapping, armed criminal action, three counts of forcible sodomy, and one count of attempted forcible sodomy relating to Shawn.  There are also six federal charges rounding out the cadre of four jurisdictions involved so far.

No plea agreement has been reached by any authority with Devlin.

The prosecutors in Franklin County have answered Corlija’s request for all the info they had on Devlin (Discovery), and D.A. John Rupp has reciprocated by requesting Corlija send his info also.  Ditto in St. Louis County.

As his current court docket stands, Devlin will appear September 10 in Washington County, where the judge will rule on defense requests for a change in venue, as well as to determine how the jury pool will be selected.  His arraignment in St. Louis County is scheduled for September 19 and will hear several preliminary motions filed there.  And on October 13, Devlin will return to Franklin County, where the judge will hear various defense motions filed there, inclusive of Corlija’s latest request for a change in venue.

And the Feds wait for their turn last at bat when all else in all counties is concluded.  When the dust settles in Missouri, Devlin faces federal charges of producing child pornography and transporting a minor (Hornbeck) across state lines for the purpose of conducting criminal sex acts.

More reading?  See info on Devlin’s transfer to St. Louis County and Toelke’s insistence that Devlin will be returning to Franklin County afterwards, and info about Devlin’s arrival in St. Louis County and the issues anchored there.

For background info, I’ve written previously about Devlin’s case here, here, here, here, and in about 25 other posts, at very least.  Probably the easiest way to find all of them is through wading through this Google Search.

A June Update on Michael Devlin; Corlija Draws Former Client’s Wrath

Nothing has hit the airwaves recently regarding Michael Devlin or any of his cases in Franklin, Washington and St. Louis counties in Missouri.  But I take that as good news, since it means everyone is keeping their mouths shut and getting down to business.

Devlin’s next court appearance will come next week, on Thursday, June 21, when his attorneys file an appearance before their fairly newly appointed judge in Franklin County, The Hon. Stanley Dale Williams.  (I noted the change in judges and a few other minor updates last month.)

The appearance hearing should be fairly quick, but  I imagine Mr. Ethan Corlija will present his Defendant’s Request for Change of Venue and perhaps others.  We’ll see.

Speaking of Mr. Corlija, he has apparently raised the ire of a former client.  In a lengthy post three days ago (June 12th) to RipoffReport, “Lisa” titles her complaint, “Ethan Corlija …lawyer will lie and deceive to take your money, then provide little or no defense Clayton Missouri.” 

As they say, “Hell hath no fury…”

Just in case that page mysteriously disappears, allow me to offer it here, in its entirety, for posterity’s sake:

“…

Ethan B. Corlija of the law offices of Hogan, Sokolik, Corlija And Kielty located in downtown Clayton missouri practices fraudulent and deceptive practices by making false promises regarding criminal defense cases. He will lie about the ‘connections’ he has in the Saint Louis County Court system by name dropping and using his prior employment at the facility as a selling point to attempt to steal your money. DONT BUY INTO THIS!

He was a level 4 prosecutor in Saint Louis County, the lowest in existence. He only worked there for approximately 1.5 years and has no pull with the staff whatsoever. He will accept a small retainer for his services and if, on your date in court, you do not have the remanding balance he will tell you to ‘get it now, or I will go tell the judge I want off your case’.

He will lie to you about your release date/probationary period end date by knowingly incorrectly informing you of the Missouri DOC parole schedule and/or the County Jail’s ‘Good Time’ system.

For instance, he told me that on a 120 day shock sentence that I would be out in 90 days. Untrue, you must do the whole 120 days. He told me on a 3 year backup that I would be paroled in 6 months. Untrue, on an assault charge you must do 33% of your sentence or 1 year at a minimum. He stated before my court date that ‘you aren’t going to jail, I don’t make money by having incarcerated clients’. Untrue, most of his clients are in jail or have had to do some period of incarceration.

If you want a good lawyer you would be well advised to call the offices of RSRG. I had to do so just to have the mess Mr. Corlija got me in cleaned up. It cost me ten’s of thousands to do so.
Lisa
University City, Missouri
U.S.A.

…”

Personally, I think this gal is a Class A spook.  She is obviously enraged that she couldn’t walk away from her “assault charge” and has blamed Corlija in witless detail for having to serve her full sentence, which she clearly understands was mandatory as noted above in her own words.  A lot of attorneys attract the ire of clients when things don’t go as well as the clients hoped.  But most clients are not stupid enough to post such a long and easily identifiable rant as Lisa has done.  Of course, committing an “assault charge” could be fairly strong proof of that, with the disclaimer being I know nothing whatsoever about her case.

If anything she has written is not true, moreover not provable…

Lisa, meet libel per se:  “broadcast or written publication of a false statement about another which accuses him/her of a crime, immoral acts, inability to perform his/her profession, having a loathsome disease (like syphilis) or dishonesty in business.  Such claims are considered so obviously harmful that malice need not be proved to obtain a judgment for “general damages,” and not just specific losses.”   (Emphasis mine.)  Yet malice is obvious in her post.

Mr. Corlija and his team are likely up to their hair follicles in trying to defend Devlin against citations in three Missouri counties and the Feds, as well.  So this one may have escaped his radar, but I doubt it.   I’m sure Lisa’s rant is the least of his concerns right now.

I readily admit I feel for this fellow and his firm.  They landed a business coup with the Devlin case, but unless Devlin has a benefactor, Corlija is expending huge sums in operating capital from his firm and may or may not recoup.  He is up against a fifty-foot wall of tough evidence, tough prosecutors, a set of very tough state statutes, even tougher opposing resources, overwhelming public preconviction of his client, and near insurmountable victimization by Devlin of what will be the two star witnesses at trial in Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.  Corlija’s only possible strategy is to attempt to discredit overwhelming evidence, while trying to evidence that Devlin is less of a monster than we all believe him to be.  That takes a lot of money…

In my opinion, the trade-off that Corlija, et al, hope for will come in the future if they are able to gain any compromise or (miracle required) somehow manage to reduce Devlin’s legal exposure.  If he can do that, his name (and the tremendously enhanced reputation of his firm) among criminal law circles will be written alongside the greats in history.  After all, thirteen years later, who doesn’t recognize the names, “Johnny Cochran,” “Robert Shapiro,” and (my favorite) “Barry Scheck.  I can personally guarantee you the quip, “Scheck Happens!” is still stated regularly in law firm war rooms.

Personally, every cent of my money is on the cadre’ of multi-jurisdictional prosecutors.  And I wish them God Speed.

What’s New (in May 2007) for Michael Devlin?

With the attorneys all privately preparing for full-scale legal wars, there has been very little to report on Missouri’s Michael Devlin lately…until this week.

 

To summarize:

 

Sometime recently, Mr. Devlin has been moved from solitary confinement and now has a cell mate.  I will leave us all to speculate how well that relationship is going.

 

In response to Devlin counsel’s production request of April 18, a large packet of paperwork (also known as evidence) has been signed off by all four charging jurisdictions (Washington, Franklin and St. Louis counties, and the U.S. Attorney’s office) and has been delivered to Ethan Corlija and Michael Kielty.  Business as usual there.

 

The packet contains all information they need to defend their client on the now 86 charges Devlin faces. (The current count cites 71 from St. Louis County, 7 from Washington County, 6 Federal charges and 2 from Franklin County.)  But this information will not include any information relating to ongoing investigations.  Notable among that list is whether Devlin has a connection with the disappearance of other young boys in the reasonable vicinity.

 

For the record the seven Washington County charges are new, having been filed on April 17 following Grand Jury indictments there.  In those counts, Devlin is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, armed criminal action, three counts of forcible sodomy, and one count of attempted forcible sodomy.  In the action filed, Washington County DA John Rupp further described Devlin’s attempt to suffocate Shawn Hornbeck during his first month of captivity.

 

Currently, investigators are probing any possibly connected between Devlin and the following children:

Scott Allen Kleeschulte, who disappeared in 1988 while walking near his home in St. Charles. He was nine years old at the time of his disappearance.

Charles “Arlin” Henderson, who disappeared in 1991 at the age of 11 near his home in rural Lincoln County.

Steven Kraft, who disappeared in 2001 near Michigan, where Devlin often vacationed. Steven was 12 when he disappeared. Investigators are really hot on this case, since they have a variety of evidence linking Devlin to the area around the time of his disappearance…just prior to Devlin’s abduction of Shawn Hornbeck.

Dalton Mesarchik, 7, who disappeared in 2003 in Illinois. His body was found the next day following his abduction near the Vermilion River.

Also, Franklin County Prosecutor Bob Parks mentioned to press recently that all four jurisdictions are preparing a plea agreement to offer several consecutive life sentences in exchange for Devlin’s guilty plea.  But Corlija scoffed at the notion and exclaimed that he will take Devlin to a jury trial, where he feels his client will have the best chance of success.

And last, but not least, Franklin County Judge Gael Wood has granted Corlija’s petition to step down from the case.  As of May 15, 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court has assigned The Hon. Stanley D. Williams to hear the case to come before him.

 

Next on Devlin’s counsel’s schedule is Devlin’s arraignment before the Washington County Court on May 21 to answer the seven new charges there.  Expect Devlin not to personally attend.

 

Without a single legal hiccup so far, the case is progressing admirably.  More to come…

 

Washinton County Court Sets Hearing Date for Michael Devlin

A case review hearing was held today in Washington County, Missouri for Michael J. Devlin.  Devlin was not present, but appeared through his counsel Ethan Corlija and Michael Kielty.  Presiding was Associate Judge Troy Keith Hyde.  The only outcome of this very brief review was the setting of a preliminary hearing on May 9, wherein the court will determine whether there is enough evidence against Devlin there to hold a trial.

 

This particular hearing was a minute legal detail to take care of, the appearance in court of attorneys related to this matter and their collective opportunity to check their own calendars against the court’s to arrive at a date.  Today’s hearing lasted only about 15 minutes.

 

Before the preliminary hearing date arrives, it is more likely that the Washington County Grand Jury will hear the Devlin case and return a true bill in the next few weeks.  You can expect Corlija and Kielty to again request a transcript be made of the closed proceedings.  You can further expect that motion to be summarily denied, as have all the others, and only the prosecutor will have access to the testimonies provided.

 

With all the other jurisdictions weighing in on Devlin, Washington County Prosecutor John D. Rupp has plenty of time to take his time, carefully building his case regarding Shawn Hornbeck, and add the most substantial nails of all to Devlin’s building coffin.

 

And that is precisely what Rupp and the other prosecutors are doing.   I do hope Corlija and Kielty have the stamina to hold on and a ton of volunteers to help them.  They certainly have their hands full and miles upon miles yet to go.