State Ex Rel. Verweire v. Moore

STEPHEN N. LIMBAUGH, JR., Judge.

This case presents the rare situation in which a criminal defendant pled guilty to a crime he did not commit. In June 2000, petitioner, Howard J. Verweire, pled guilty in the Circuit Court of Taney County to one count of assault in the first degree, section 565.050, RSMo 1994, and one count of unlawful use of a weapon, section 571.030.1, RSMo Supp.1999. He petitioned this Court for a writ of habeas corpus claiming actual innocence on the assault charge and a due process violation in that there was no factual basis for the plea to that charge. This Court has…