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Jake Reynolds spent Thursday night calling people, leaving messages and telling them to be at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence.
Show your support for Laura Reynolds, he told the people.
Jake, Laura’s older brother, stayed up until 3 a.m. trying to generate a show of support for Laura on Friday.
Laura died in a two-vehicle crash on Halloween night on U.S. 24. She was 16 years old.
Kenneth Scott Blake II, was driving the car that collided with the car Laura was riding in.
Blake’s blood alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit in Missouri, according to court documents.
At 11 a.m. Friday in Circuit Judge Vernon Scoville’s courtroom, Blake had a bond reduction hearing.
“Poor Laura, she can’t come home so I don’t see why anyone in the public would expect that they should let this guy out ever,” Jake said immediately after the court proceeding.
The 19-year-old Blue Springs teenager is being held on $75,000 cash-only bond.
The hearing, however, never happened. It was canceled.
Scoville announced to a packed courtroom full of Laura’s family and friends mixed with Blake’s family that there will be no bond reduction hearing. Also, there were about 20 people standing outside the courtroom.
Blake was not present in court.
Then, in a bizarre twist, Scoville proclaimed that no one was to leave the courtroom. He instructed Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies to hand-write information from people’s identification as they filed out of the courtroom.
Scoville was asked by The Examiner why the demand for people’s information. He declined to answer.
A courtroom victim’s advocate later said it was the judge’s decision based on security concerns.
Traci Stansell, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor who’s handling the case, said it was Scoville’s decision after he talked with the Sheriff’s Department.
Blake then withdrew his motion to seek bond reduction, Stansell said after the hearing.
A preliminary hearing was set for 11 a.m. Nov. 16.
Laura’s death was the second tragedy to strike the Reynolds family.
Laura and Jake’s father died in a motorcycle accident in 1994. Laura was 1 1/2 years old. Jake was 14 years old. And Jessica Reynolds, Laura’s older sister, was 10 years old.
After Jake and Jessica moved out of the house, Laura was the last one at home with their mother, Glenna Reynolds.
Jake said a sudden death is “so much worse” than a transitional death like cancer. “Someone who takes your loved one from you unexpectedly like that, the anger and the outrage is unfathomable.”
Blake was charged with felony first-degree involuntary manslaughter while intoxicated.
But manslaughter is not harsh enough, Jake said. “In our eyes, it’s murder.”
Jake Reynolds spent Thursday night calling people, leaving messages and telling them to be at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence.
Show your support for Laura Reynolds, he told the people.
Jake, Laura’s older brother, stayed up until 3 a.m. trying to generate a show of support for Laura on Friday.
Laura died in a two-vehicle crash on Halloween night on U.S. 24. She was 16 years old.
Kenneth Scott Blake II, was driving the car that collided with the car Laura was riding in.
Blake’s blood alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit in Missouri, according to court documents.
At 11 a.m. Friday in Circuit Judge Vernon Scoville’s courtroom, Blake had a bond reduction hearing.
“Poor Laura, she can’t come home so I don’t see why anyone in the public would expect that they should let this guy out ever,” Jake said immediately after the court proceeding.
The 19-year-old Blue Springs teenager is being held on $75,000 cash-only bond.
The hearing, however, never happened. It was canceled.
Scoville announced to a packed courtroom full of Laura’s family and friends mixed with Blake’s family that there will be no bond reduction hearing. Also, there were about 20 people standing outside the courtroom.
Blake was not present in court.
Then, in a bizarre twist, Scoville proclaimed that no one was to leave the courtroom. He instructed Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies to hand-write information from people’s identification as they filed out of the courtroom.
Scoville was asked by The Examiner why the demand for people’s information. He declined to answer.
A courtroom victim’s advocate later said it was the judge’s decision based on security concerns.
Traci Stansell, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor who’s handling the case, said it was Scoville’s decision after he talked with the Sheriff’s Department.
Blake then withdrew his motion to seek bond reduction, Stansell said after the hearing.
A preliminary hearing was set for 11 a.m. Nov. 16.
Laura’s death was the second tragedy to strike the Reynolds family.
Laura and Jake’s father died in a motorcycle accident in 1994. Laura was 1 1/2 years old. Jake was 14 years old. And Jessica Reynolds, Laura’s older sister, was 10 years old.
After Jake and Jessica moved out of the house, Laura was the last one at home with their mother, Glenna Reynolds.
Jake said a sudden death is “so much worse” than a transitional death like cancer. “Someone who takes your loved one from you unexpectedly like that, the anger and the outrage is unfathomable.”
Blake was charged with felony first-degree involuntary manslaughter while intoxicated.
But manslaughter is not harsh enough, Jake said. “In our eyes, it’s murder.”
