State Ex Rel. Laughlin v. Bowersox

MICHAEL A. WOLFF, Judge.

Introduction

Dwight Laughlin was convicted and sentenced to prison in 1993 by the Newton County circuit court for burglary and property damage crimes occurring in the United States post office in Neosho. Under the United States Constitution, if a state cedes jurisdiction over federal property in the state, the United States has exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases involving offenses committed on that federal property.

When the United States acquired the land to build the Neosho post office, the state of Missouri by statute ceded jurisdiction over the land to the federal…