Major Crimes

TYPES OF CASES THE MAJOR CRIMES TEAM HAS AUTHORITY OVER

The Major Crimes Team handles serious felony cases, which include but are not limited to, homicides, first degree assaults, robberies, dangerous drug offenses, elder abuse crimes, gang related crimes, felony D.W.I.'s, and the prosecution of career criminals.

WHO WORKS ON THE MAJOR CRIMES TEAM

In addition to the Chief Assistant, there are four attorneys assigned to the Major Crimes Team:

In addition to the Acting Chief Assistant, Todd Myers, there are four attorneys assigned to the Major Crimes Team. They are Damon Phillips, Nhan Nguyen, Kristen Tuohy and Penny Speake. This team is responsible for the prosecution of homicides, first degree assaults, robberies, serious drug offenses, including manufacturing methamphetamine, trafficking and distribution of drugs. Nhan Nguyen is also the Drug Court Prosecutor and D.W.I. Court Prosecutor. Evelyn Keith is the Major Crimes Team secretary.

HOW A MAJOR CRIMES CASE PROCEEDS THROUGH OUR OFFICE

A police report is received by our office generally from any one of the following law enforcement agencies: the Springfield Police Department, the Greene County Sheriff's Department, the Missouri Highway Patrol, or any other law enforcement agency in Greene County. Once a report is received, it is routed to the data entry department, where it is logged into our case management system. The case is then assigned to an attorney on the Major Crimes Team. The case will also be designated as "under advisement" in the case management system by the assigned attorney. The case will remain in the "under advisement" status until a charging decision has been made by the attorney. If the attorney decides to file a criminal charge on the case, a warrant will generally be issued and the case will receive a court case number and the case will be entered into the court system by a court clerk. The court case number will also be entered into our case management system.

Once a case has been filed, the Assistant Prosecutor who made the charging decision will be primarily responsible for monitoring the case as it proceeds through the court system. This is called "vertical prosecution" and it is employed for most cases that involve victims. The assistant prosecutor who made the charging decision will handle most, if not all, of the court action on the case. The prosecutor will do the preliminary hearing, attend depositions, bond hearings, a guilty plea hearing, the trial and the sentencing hearing. Vertical Prosecution requires that any plea offer come from, or be authorized by, the assistant prosecutor who filed the charge and has been following the case from the beginning.

The Greene County Prosecutor's Office has a Victim/Witness Team that assists victims and witnesses. They can be contacted at (417) 868-4082 to respond to any questions or concerns you may have regarding your case. If your questions concern a court date or the status of your case, please contact the Victim/Witness Team.

For other questions about a specific case or crimes handled by the Major Crimes Team, please contact any one of the individual prosecutors in our team. As a practical matter however, it is usually easier to talk directly with the Major Crimes Team secretary, Evelyn Keith, since the attorneys on the Major Crimes Team spend the majority of their time in court, meeting with victims or workers from the agencies that investigate our cases, and are rarely in their office for any extended period of time during the day.

All members of the Major Crimes Team have voice mail and you should feel free to leave a message requesting that we contact you on their voice mail. They will respond to your voice mail message as soon as they can. Generally if the attorney is in trial or otherwise unavailable to return calls for an extended period of time, the voice mail message will reflect that.

MAJOR CRIMES TEAM MEMBERS

Todd Myers, Senior Assistant

Todd joined the Greene County Prosecutor's Office in January, 1999. Prior to that Todd was an Assistant City Prosecutor for the city of Wichita, Kansas. Todd handles cases involving homicides, assaults, robberies, drug manufacturing, drug trafficking, and weapons. In 2005, Todd was appointed a Special Assistant United States Attorney to handle federal Greene County firearms violations. Todd received his undergraduate degree from Evangel College (now University) with a major in Government in May 1994. Todd received his law degree from the University of Kansas in 1997. While in law school Todd was the Publications Editor of the Journal of Law and Public Policy. Todd is currently a member of the D.W.I. task force, the Drug Endangered Children task force, and a presents "What's Cooking in Your Neighborhood", a presentation on the dangers of methamphetamine. In addition to his official duties Todd is an adjunct professor at Evangel University and is and is a certified instructor at the Springfield Police Academy and the Missouri POST certified law enforcement officer certification classes.

Damon Phillips, Assistant Prosecutor

Damon joined the Greene County Prosecutor's Office in November, 2003. Damon received his undergraduate degree in 2000 from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), majoring in Political Science. Damon received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 2003. Damon's previous responsibilities have included handling Financial Elder Abuse cases and serving as the Prosecutor's representative to the Greene County Planning and Zoning Committee. Damon is currently the Drug Court Prosecutor and the D.W.I. Court Prosecutor.

Evelyn Keith, Major Crimes Secretary

Evelyn was in the Greene County Prosecutor's Office from August 1989 thru December 1998 then rejoined the office in March of 2001. Evelyn has held positions in Traffic, Misdemeanor Secretary on the Person's Team and is currently the Major Crimes Team Secretary.

Kristen M. Tuohy, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

Kristen received her undergraduate degree from University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, majoring in Political Science. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law, Columbia, Missouri in 2003. Appointed assistant prosecuting attorney in January 2008.