CARTHAGE, Mo. —
A lawsuit filed against Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator, will go to trial Sept. 7.
A defense motion asking that the trial be delayed was overruled Tuesday by Jasper County Circuit Judge David Dally.
He did rule in favor of the defense in dismissing a claim of false arrest. After arguments last week, he also overruled a defense motion that the case be moved to another county because of pre-trial publicity.
“We’ll go forward on the state case of malicious prosecution,” said Springfield attorney R. Lynn Myers, who is representing Delores Forste, of Needles, Calif.
Forste is suing Hunter for damages after she was arrested on charges of kidnapping and interfering with custody when she took her mother, Emma France, out of Jasper County and home with her.
At the time France, then 95, was a ward of the county public administrator’s office. A later court ruling voided actions that made France a ward of the county, after finding that no attempt was made to notify relatives and that France was not allowed to be at the hearing, both requirements of state law.
Forste, then 67, was arrested the day before Thanksgiving in 2007 and was held in jail in San Bernardino County, Calif., then transported back to Jasper County, where she was freed after posting bond in early December.
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Lawsuit against Rita Hunter to go forward Sept. 7
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