Mo. Supreme Court hears arguments on sex, gun and drug laws

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Intro:	Attorneys argued the constitutionality of sex, drugs and gun laws in the Missouri Supreme Court Tuesday.
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Wrap: The court spent several hours discussing whether convicted sex offenders and people convicted of gun and drug charges should face further charges after their sentencing.

Currently, the state can impose extra penalties on some convicted felons after that person has already served their time.

Attorney Margaret Johnson says those retrospective laws apply to both criminal and civil cases.

Actuality:	MAGGIE.WAV
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Description: "The state's argument here is that ex post facto is the only part of our constitution that can apply to criminal laws."

The court gave no indication of when it would hand down its decisions.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Christina Turner.

Intro:	The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments of whether drug, sex and gun offenders should face further penalties after serving their time.
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Wrap: Attorneys for sex, drug and gun convicts urged the Supreme Court Tuesday to throw out the legislature's efforts to impose additional penalties after they had already been convicted.

Attorney Margaret Johnston says the term for those penalties, "retrospective," should be defined before people have to live with the consequences of them.

Actuality:	MAGGIE2.WAV
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Description: "Part of the debates for the constitutional convention included one delegate who wanted to define the term retrospective, and that was not supported by everyone, so we don't have a definition of what is it. So what do we do?"

The court gave no indication of when it would hand down its decisions.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Christina Turner.

Intro:	Sex, drugs and guns were before the Missouri Supreme Court Tuesday.
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Wrap: The court spent several hours discussing whether extra penalties should be piled onto convicted sex offenders and people convicted of gun and drug charges.

It heard three cases on convicted sex offenders and two on people convicted of drug and gun charges.

Attorney Jerry Miller said one convicted sex offender was given a penalty that should have been unconstitutional six years after being convicted.

Actuality:	JEREMY2.WAV
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Description: "He was punished for something that he shouldn't have been punished for. He was put in jail for almost a year. He faces up to seven years in the penitentiary on a class C felony that didn't exist when he served his five years probation."

The court gave no indication of when it would hand down its decisions.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Christina Turner.