Dale Helmig is home for the holidays. On Monday, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, sustained a motion filed by Helmig's attorneys to release Helmig on bond. Helmig was serving a life sentence at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri, for his mother's murder. Last month, a judge in DeKalb County granted Helmig habeus corpus relief, finding that "no credible evidence remains from the first trial
to support the conviction."
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed an appeal, and hoped to keep Helmig in custody until the overturning of his conviction undergoes further review. The court of appeals replied: Nah.
In her decision Monday, Writ Division Judge Cynthia L. Martin cited a rule that an appeal by the state "shall not stay the operation of an
order or judgment in favor of the defendant." Then, in deciding whether to release Helmig on bond, Martin noted that Helmig has a place to stay, isn't a flight risk, has not received a single conduct violation during his nearly 15 years in prison, and, oh yeah, "has established his innocence by clear and convincing evidence." She set his bond at $50,000, of which he'd need to pay ten percent.
Koster took the news with quiet dignity and grace, releasing this statement yesterday:
A career in criminal lawenforcement leaves me surprised that the appellate court would release
an
individual who has been found guilty by a jury of first degree murder on
a
$5,000 bond. Assuming, as the Court does, that Mr. Helmig stands in the
shoes
of a pretrial first degree murder defendant, a bond of $5,000 is nearly
without
precedent."
appeals rules against Koster's argument on appeal, the decision on whether or not to try Helmig again is up to Osage County Prosecutor Amanda Grellner.
Helmig's family scrounged up the
$5,000 bail and rushed to deliver it to the court clerk on Monday afternoon.
Helmig was released to stay with his
brother Rich in Rocky Mount, Missouri.
That night was the first night in 15 years that Helmig has slept outside prison walls. Sean O'Brien, Helmig's attorney, told the Plog yesterday, "I just got off the phone with him. Rich's girlfriend made him steak, eggs, hash browns and whole wheat toast for
breakfast."
There is no way that Koster's breakfast tasted as good.
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