In response to requests for the release of low-level detainees amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Missouri Supreme Court will maintain the status quo, saying those decisions will be left to local judges. The Missouri Public Defenders' Office and a coalition of over 30 organizations and medical professionals sent letters recently to the state high court to order circuit judges to free those most at-risk and low-level detainees from the state's jails. In a response issued Monday, court spokeswoman Beth Riggert wrote the judges have issued a letter to circuit judges pointing to 2019 changes to rules governing pretrial release and bond...
