Craig Dalton Coward Missouri Cases

The State of Missouri appealed a trial court's order granting Craig Coward a legislative continuance and automatic stay in a criminal case. The State contended the continuance violated victim's rights, judicial estoppel, and Rule 22.09. The appellate court dismissed the State's appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction, holding that the order was interlocutory and not statutorily appealable under section 547.200. The court further ruled that section 510.120.4, which purported to grant original jurisdiction to the court of appeals, was unconstitutional as the legislature cannot expand or curtail judicial jurisdiction.