Missouri Expungements Restore Gun Possession Rights, Says Federal Court

With a federal court ruling issued on July 13, 2023, Phillips & Thomas LLC has litigated a very important firearms rights case to a successful conclusion.  For the first time, a Missouri federal court has ruled that Missouri’s criminal expungement statute, RSMo. §610.140, does restore a person’s right to possess a firearm. 

Continue reading

How To Handle Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Court Cases, Warrants, And Tickets: A Guide By An Attorney

The Kansas City Municipal Court is part of Judicial Circuit 16.  The courthouse is located at 511 E 11th St., Kansas City, MO  64106. It is located at the corner of Locust and 11th Streets.  The court hears misdemeanor cases (such as theft and assault), traffic cases (such as speeding and driving while suspended), municipal code infractions, animal ordinance violations, and even housing code violation cases that arise out of incidents alleged to have occurred in the metropolitan Kansas City Missouri area.  

Continue reading

Overland Park Municipal Court Cases, Tickets, And Charges: An Overview By An Attorney

The Overland Park Municipal Court court handles misdemeanor criminal, traffic, and probation violation cases that arise in this city. Some of the typical cases include: driving under the influence (DUI), drug possession, shoplifting or theft, trespassing, minor in possession of alcohol, driving with an expired license or tag, and speeding.

Continue reading

Veteran-Owned Kansas City Law Firm

Our Johnson County, Kansas law firm located in Leawood is a veteran-owned business.  One of our attorneys and owners, George Thomas, had a prior career as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps before attending law school and becoming an attorney.  He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) on a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship from 1986 to 1990. 

Continue reading

We Have Moved To A New Location In Leawood!

We have moved our bankruptcy, criminal defense, and traffic law firm to a new location in Leawood, Kansas. After spending the past 22 years located in Prairie Village, Phillips & Thomas, LLC, will now be located in beautiful Park Place in Leawood, Kansas. Park Place is located just one block north of Town Center Plaza Shopping Center and also is close to the former Sprint Campus. We are also near the busy intersection of 119th Street and Nall and are also just a few minutes south of I-435. The new address is:

Phillips & Thomas, LLC

5251 W. 116th Place, Ste. 200

Leawood KS 66211

Our phone number of 913-385-9900 and email addresses will remain the same. We look forward to serving you at our new location!

Municipal Court Warrant Amnesty In Johnson County, Kansas

When a criminal case has been filed, an arrest warrant will often be issued by a judge.  Obviously, no one wants to have active warrants out there pending in the system, since it means a person can be taken into custody at any time.  It turns out that courts and law enforcement agencies don’t like active warrants, either.  The more warrants that are out there, the greater the burden of work that is placed on agencies to process and clear them.

Continue reading

Update On Missouri’s New Law On Medical Marijuana

The marijuana law in Missouri, like much else in life, is constantly evolving.  Around the country, significant shifts have occurred in recent years with regard to longstanding laws about marijuana possession and prosecutions. In 2018 Missouri legalized the use of medical marijuana for patients with certain medical conditions who get approved by their doctor.

Continue reading

8 Tips On How To Avoid A Probation Violation Or A Diversion Violation

pardon

After you’ve been doing criminal defense work for over 17 years, you start to notice patterns.  You see certain things repeat themselves over and over.  So I wanted to say a few words here about one of the most commonly encountered defense issues.

And that is:  how to avoid getting violated on probation or diversion.

Let’s say you’ve already been placed on probation or diversion.  You want to be successful.  You want to complete it and be done with it.  I get that.

Continue reading

A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Solve A Legal Problem

step1

Life can take unexpected twists and turns.  We can have all sorts of problems.  Some of them are medical problems.  Some of them are accounting problems.  Some of them are family or relationship problems.

And some of them are legal problems.

But we don’t often find many step-by-step guides on how to solve legal problems.  Why is this?  Well, there are a lot of reasons:  not diagnosing the problem, being misled by the media, or not acting fast enough.

Continue reading

Entrapment In Computer Sex Enticement Cases

entrapment

Cases involving law enforcement officers posing as juveniles online are common.  A typical scenario is found in the recent case of State v. Anderson (WD77202) from the Western District of Missouri Court of Appeals, which was decided in May 2015.  In the Anderson case, a law enforcement officer created a female online profile for a dating site, using a profile with the name Kaitlyn that alleged “she” was 19 years old.  The profile was then posted to the site.

Many of these computer “decoy” cases involve scenarios where a law enforcement officer is purporting to be a minor.  The issue then often becomes some version of this question:  did the defendant actively participate in the exchange, or was he tricked into doing something that he might not have done otherwise?

Continue reading