39° HOME | CALENDAR | CONTACT US DEPARTMENTS Assessor Circuit Clerk Collector Commissioners County Clerk Election Information Emergency Management Prosecuting Attorney Public Administrator Recorder of Deeds Treasurer Prosecuting Attorney STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Wayne Williams, Prosecuting Attorney Courthouse 55 South Third St., Room 7 Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670 Phone: 573-883-2791 option 9 Fax: 573-883-9636 Email: court@stegenpa.com Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. A crime has occurred When a crime is reported, law enforcement agencies are responsible for conducting an investigation. After completing their investigation, the law enforcement agency may submit their reports to the prosecuting attorney. The prosecuting attorney then reviews the reports and decides whether to charge an individual with a crime or not. Criminal or Civil? Many people are confused by the distinction between civil and criminal statutes. The great majority of disputes between individuals are civil in nature, and allow a person to sue for money damages. You can contact law enforcement to take a report and they can help you determine if criminal or civil. How to track a case You can track this case by visiting: https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet. To search by name click on “Litigant Name Search”. Then find and click on “24th Judicial Circuit” under “Search for cases in”, enter the defendant’s first and last name, enter the year the charges were filed to narrow your search, then click “Find”. The case will be given a “Case Number” within a few days of issuing the charges. To search by case number click on “Case Number Search”. Enter the case number in “Case Number:” and then click find. Defendant’s Rights Defendants have the right to be represented by counsel and the right to have the State of Missouri provide a public defender if the defendant cannot afford to hire his or her own lawyer. You can fill out a Public Defender Application at the Circuit Clerk’s office at the Ste. Genevieve County Courthouse or call the Public Defender’s office at (573)218-7080. Victim Rights The Missouri Constitution and Missouri statutes give victims of crime important rights, including the right to information about their cases and to be present and heard at stages in criminal proceedings. Information about cases may be accessible through https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet. If you are a victim in a case and are seeking restitution be paid to you from the defendant, please contact our office as soon as possible and provide any documentation, so we can try to collect on your behalf. We cannot collect if you don’t let us know. If it is a violent crime you may be entitled to restitution through Missouri Crime Victims Compensation Fund whether or not a person is charged with the offense. You can contact Missouri Crime Victims Compensation by visiting their website https://dps.mo.gov/dir/programs/cvc/ or calling (573) 526-6006. Assault Charges If you are the victim of an assault and no longer wish to press charges, you will need to provide a notarized written statement explaining why you feel the charges should be dropped. Even though you provide a notarized written statement the Prosecuting Attorney can still opt to proceed with charges. Traffic Tickets To Plead Guilty Depending on the charge you might be able to plead guilty to original charges and pay through “Plead and Pay” by finding your case on https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet. You can also contact the Circuit Clerk’s office by phone (573)883-2265 option 1, to see how you can plead guilty to original charges. Request for recommendation If you are an individual trying to get your ticket amended to a non-moving violation, you can contact our office by sending us an email requesting a recommendation at court@stegenpa.com. Make sure you include the case number or ticket numbers, full name and any documents we might need (ex: proof of insurance, vehicle registration, notice of reinstatement from DOR) in your email. We will email you back a recommendation letter if applicable. This could take up to two weeks to receive a response. You can also call our office to request a recommendation. If you agree with the terms on the recommendation letter, you will need sign and return the recommendation letter to the Circuit Clerk’s office. The signed recommendation letter will serve as your guilty plea. If you are an attorney you can e-file an Entry of Appearance and Request for Recommendation. We will then e-file the recommendation letter on casenet. *Fines and court cost are collected through the Circuit Clerk’s office. Restitution Restitution payments can be made payable to the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation Ste. Gen Co Prosecuting Attorney (MLTAF Ste. Gen P.A.) in the form of a money order or cashier’s check. You can also pay by credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover) through a service we use called CourtMoney. If you wish to pay by phone, payment may be made by calling at 1-877-222-4668 or visiting www.courtmoney.com and giving them form # 117802 along with your case number. There are fees for using the CourtMoney service, $2.00 minimum, over $50-4% and additional $3.50 for phone fee. If you use CourtMoney services it does take 2-3 days usually to clear. We can only credit your case once the payment clears through CourtMoney. Bad Check Procedure for Reporting to Prosecutor’s Office Upon receipt of the check(s) from your bank, return a completed bad check complaint form and the original or legal copy of bad check showing the reason for dishonor by the bank to our office. Our office will then mail a letter to the writer of the bad check writer in attempt to collect. If we do not receive a response, we will make every effort to pursue prosecution. Not all checks are appropriate for prosecution. Each check will be considered on a case by case basis. Requirements for Prosecution In order to win prosecution of a bad check case in court, the prosecutor must be able to prove that a certain individual wrote a specific check. Since many weeks have passed from the time the check was accepted until the time of the first court date, we require the following information be obtained: Driver’s license number, state of issuance and date of birth on the person writing the check. Compare the person on the ID with the person presenting it to make sure they match. That way, if you cannot recognize the person later at trial, you can testify that you always compare the person to the driver’s license photograph and you did so in this particular case. Require a current physical address and phone number. Make sure the check is completely filled out, dated, signed and legible. *Remember: Cashing a check is a privilege, not a right. You are not required to accept a check from anyone. You have to the right to insist upon cash or money orders. Sometimes refusing to accept a personal check will save you time and money in the long run. WE DO NOT ACCEPT FOR PROSECUTION: * Checks without the required ID information * Third party checks * Checks that are beyond the statute of limitations * Postdated checks * Out of state checks * Checks where the parties made an agreement to hold the check * The check writer cannot be identified * The account holder is deceased * The person who physically accepted the check is unknown * The check is better pursued through litigation * Checks returned due to Stop Payment Please note: Once a check has been submitted to our office for collection and/or prosecution, you must not accept payment from the defendant. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in refusal to pursue collection and/or prosecution on future checks. Procedure for paying a bad check The amount due can be made payable to the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation Ste. Gen Co Prosecuting Attorney (MLTAF Ste. Gen P.A.) in the form of a money order or cashier’s check. You can also pay by credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover) through a service we use called CourtMoney. If you wish to pay by phone, payment IN FULL ONLY may be made by calling CourtMoney at 1-877-222-4668 or visiting www.courtmoney.com and giving them form # 117802 along with your case number. There are fees for using the CourtMoney service, $2.00 minimum, over $50-4% and additional $3.50 for phone fee. If you use CourtMoney services it does take 2-3 days usually to clear. We can only credit your case once the payment clears through CourtMoney. COMMUNITY CENTER COUNTY HEALTH DEPT COUNTY SHERIFF TOURISM INFO HELPFUL NUMBERS Assessor 573-883-2333 Collector 573-883-5492 County Clerk 573-883-5589 Treasurer 573-883-3000 HELPFUL LINKS ASSESSOR | CALENDAR | CIRCUIT CLERK | COLLECTOR | COMMISSIONERS COUNTY CLERK | ELECTION INFORMATION | EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR | RECORDER OF DEEDS | TREASURER | CONTACT US STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY, MISSOURI • 55 South Third St. • Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670 • Office Hours: M-F 8:00am - 4:30pm © 2015-2021 Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri | Site Map