Felonies

Range, and whether there is a floor. Class A is ten to thirty years or life. Class B is five to fifteen. Class C is three to ten. Class D is up to seven. Class E is up to four. § 558.011.

The structural point that matters more than the numbers: A, B and C carry statutory minimums; D and E do not. On a class D you can argue for probation without fighting a floor. On a class C you are arguing against a three-year minimum before you start.

Fines follow an odd pattern worth knowing — § 558.002 authorizes no fine at all for class A or class B felonies, and $10,000 for C, D and E.

Not necessarily, and the honest answer depends on the class, your history, and the facts. Probation with an SIS or SES is common on class D and E felonies for a first offender. On a class A it is not a realistic conversation.

Missouri also has intermediate options. The § 559.115 120-day callback allows the court to place someone on probation up to 120 days after delivery to the Department of Corrections, and successful completion of the assessed programme results in release on probation unless the court refuses after a hearing. Treatment courts are a separate route where the underlying problem is addiction.

Anyone who tells you at the first meeting exactly what will happen is guessing. What a lawyer can tell you honestly is the realistic range, and what moves you within it.

The State must show a judge probable cause that a felony occurred and that you committed it. Under § 544.250 no felony information may be filed until you have had that examination or waived it, and Rule 22.09 sets it within 30 days in custody, 60 days out.

The standard is far below beyond a reasonable doubt and most cases are bound over. That is not the point. You may cross-examine the State’s witnesses and introduce evidence — which locks the officer’s account into a transcript early, before reports get polished and memories consolidate.

Waiving is sometimes right, generally as part of a negotiation where something is obtained for it. It should be a decision made for a reason, not a default because it is quicker.

Two things. First, for a persistent or dangerous offender convicted of a class B, C, D or E felony, § 558.016 requires sentencing to the range “one class higher” — so a class D becomes a class C range, acquiring a three-year minimum it did not have.

Second, and often more consequential at trial: under § 557.036, once the State pleads and proves any offender status — including plain prior offender, which requires only one prior felony — the judge assesses punishment rather than the jury. If part of your trial strategy assumed a jury would set the sentence, that assumption is gone.

The State must plead and prove it. Whether the prior actually qualifies — whether it was a felony, whether the convictions were on separate occasions, whether the records support it — is a genuine issue to litigate rather than concede.

Sometimes. § 610.140 allows expungement three years after you complete the sentence, with a lifetime cap of two felonies.

A long list is permanently excluded: any class A felony, any dangerous felony under § 556.061, anything requiring sex offender registration, any felony where death of a person is an element, felony assault, kidnapping, and domestic assault of any degree. Motor vehicle offenses by a CDL holder are also excluded.

Because it is a lifetime allowance, the decision of which offense you plead to is also a decision about whether you can ever clear it. Ask that question during negotiation, not five years later. See expungements.

On a felony conviction, yes as a practical matter. RSMo § 571.070 makes possession by a person convicted of a felony a class C felony — class B with a prior dangerous felony or a prior unlawful possession conviction. Federal law prohibits it independently under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

There has been substantial litigation since Bruen and Rahimi about whether § 922(g)(1) can be challenged as applied to a particular individual. Courts are split. Missouri sits in the Eighth Circuit, which has held there is no need for felony-by-felony litigation — the more restrictive side of that split. This area is actively moving; treat any general statement about it, including this one, as current only as of now.

Note also that a Missouri expungement does not automatically resolve a federal firearm disability, and § 610.140.10 still requires disclosure of an expunged offense on a chapter 571 permit application. See firearms offenses.

Because it stacks. § 571.015 makes it an offense to commit “any felony under the laws of this state by, with, or through the use, assistance, or aid of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon.” It is not a standalone crime — it attaches to an underlying felony, and each qualifying felony can support its own count.

The minimums are three years for a first offense, five for a second, ten for a third or subsequent — and five, fifteen and fifteen respectively where the person was unlawfully possessing the firearm. Those years are ineligible for parole, probation, conditional release, or a suspended sentence.

And the statute says the punishment “shall be in addition to and consecutive to” the sentence for the underlying felony. That consecutive language came in with the 2017 revision; older commentary describing ACA sentences as discretionary reflects the prior text.

Months, frequently more than a year for a serious charge. The sequence — initial appearance, preliminary hearing, arraignment in circuit court, discovery, motions, negotiation, trial setting — each stage has its own delays, and continuances are ordinary.

That is uncomfortable and it is frequently to your advantage. Time allows investigation, lets witness accounts be tested, permits treatment or employment history to accumulate, and lets a case be evaluated on evidence rather than on the allegation.

You do have a right to a speedy trial, and it can be asserted. Whether to is a strategic decision, not an automatic one — sometimes pressure helps, and sometimes it forfeits the time your case needs.

For most felonies, § 556.036 gives the State three years. Certain arson-related felonies get five.

But there is no limitation at all for murder, rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, their attempts, and any class A felony. Those can be charged at any time, decades later.

The clock also tolls while you are absent from Missouri (up to three additional years), concealing yourself from justice, mentally unfit to proceed, or while a prosecution is pending — and there is a DNA tolling provision running until the accused is identified by name. Sexual offenses against minors have their own longer periods under § 556.037.

Often decisively. If the stop, the search, the seizure or the statement violated the Fourth or Fifth Amendment, the evidence obtained can be suppressed — and a case that looks unanswerable on the facts ends on the law.

The questions are specific: was there reasonable suspicion for the stop and did it match what the video shows; was the detention prolonged beyond its purpose; was consent actually voluntary; was there probable cause or a valid warrant; did the warrant describe what was actually searched; were Miranda warnings given before custodial interrogation.

This is the area where our civil rights and § 1983 practice and criminal defense are genuinely the same work — the same constitutional analysis of the same police conduct, argued from the other side of the courtroom.

Your decision alone, and one that should be made late, with full information, after seeing how the State’s case actually came in.

The considerations run both ways. Testifying generally opens the door to cross-examination and, in many circumstances, to impeachment with prior convictions the jury would not otherwise hear. Not testifying means the jury is instructed that no inference may be drawn from your silence — and juries nonetheless sometimes want to hear from a defendant.

What matters is that it is an informed decision rather than a reflex, made after the State has rested and both of you can see what remains to be answered.

Felony defense is typically flat-fee and staged — through preliminary hearing, through disposition, and through trial priced separately. Get the scope in writing, and ask directly whether trial is included or triggers a new fee.

Four questions worth asking anyone you interview. Who will actually appear on my case? Have you handled this offense in this courthouse? What is the realistic range of outcomes, stated as a range? And what are the collateral consequences of the disposition you are describing — firearms, licensing, immigration, and whether I can ever expunge it?

Be wary of a guaranteed result. Nobody can offer one, and the offer itself tells you something. The consultation here is free and it is a real conversation about exposure, not a sales pitch.