(Go to www.yearofjubile.com to see the MSHP video of this attempted murder by those assigned to “Serve & Protect”)
New Evidence Becomes Public Further Showing Innocence of Jeffrey Weinhaus
As we approach the 8th anniversary of the shooting of journalist Jeffrey Weinhaus by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, new evidence has become public that reveals several Brady Violations by multiple government offices as well as an active cover up extending all the way up to the Missouri State Attorney General’s office.
This new evidence also exposes the shooting officer as mentally unfit to make the crucial life-and-death decisions that come along with the responsibility of carrying a badge and a gun.
Jeffrey Weinhaus produced a local newsletter called The Bulletin. He was active in working to expose political corruption. In 2012 he was shot four times, twice in the head and twice in the chest, by Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Sergeant Henry James Folsom at a rural gas station parking lot in St Clair, Missouri.
Leading up to this encounter, Sergeant Folsom had illegally confiscated computers from Weinhaus’s home office. Folsom then broke protocol by having Weinhaus meet him at a rural gas station to have his computers returned.
Thirteen seconds after stepping out of the vehicle Weinhaus was shot four times and left in critical condition.
Not long after he had recovered enough to be released from the hospital, Weinhaus was arrested and charged with ‘Armed Criminal Action’ and ‘Assaulting an Officer by Shooting Him’.
This was after Weinhaus himself had been shot four times. Weinhaus did have a gun in a holster on his hip, but he was a licensed carrier in a legal open carry state. He made no mention of his gun and no attempt to draw it which is proven by eye witness testimony, FBI witness depositions, and a video of the incident. Most of this evidence was withheld from trial.
No bullets were fired other than from the guns of two MSHP troopers on the scene who shot Weinhaus.
Through the suppression of evidence including the mental state of the Trooper who shot Weinhaus, a false image was painted in trial and the jury never saw anything resembling the truth.
To further suppress the rights of Mr. Weinhaus to have a fair trial he was fitted with 80,000 v shock cuffs that could be activated with a flip of a switch from a depute during the trial which prevented him from being able to speak in defense of himself.
Weinhaus was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in Missouri State Department of Corrections where he still currently sits today under a gag order.
During the trial, evidence was withheld from the jury which would have proven Jeffrey’s innocence including FBI witness depositions as well as eye witness testimonies that all swear that there was nothing in his hands when he was shot. His hands were visible by many witnesses who were not called to trial. This evidence alone was enough to exonerate Weinhaus of any wrong doing, but it was withheld.
He was convicted on the shooting officer’s words alone.
Also withheld from this trial is the biggest piece of evidence which has been sealed until recently that would have revealed, if not withheld by the prosecution, that the shooting officer was suffering from PTSD from a previous shooting in 2000 where he shot and killed another man under questionable circumstances stating the same thing that he did during the trial of Jeffrey Weinhaus to justify shooting him four times…
“I had to eliminate him as a threat.”
Trooper Folsom was on heavy medication for his PTSD and questioned his own ability to determine a threat. He voiced fears to a doctor that he might shoot someone who was only reaching for their wallet.
Court documents reveal that one doctor even reported, “Folsom told him that because of his experience in the two prior shooting incidents, he will never work in law enforcement again. Because his PTSD gives him false signals of being under threat, he is fearful of pulling a gun and shooting someone when they are merely reaching into their back pocket for a wallet, etc.”
After the shooting of Weinhaus, Folsom was suspended and later terminated from the MSHP. Folsom then sued the MSHP for the loss of his job. The case was sealed in a mutual agreement by both parties. The court upheld the Highway Patrol’s decision to terminate the employment of Trooper Folsom.
Through the release of the court documents, we see a very different man that he painted himself to be in court. Through these documents we see that Folsom had severe issues that distorted his perception and decision making abilities. We see that several doctors affirm that he was in no way fit to handle his duties let alone handle a gun.
The picture we now see is a man under severe mental limitations who was taking powerful mind altering medication, questioning his own judgement, and voicing fear of shooting someone in a reaction to his PTSD, not due to an actual presented threat.
He was afraid he was going to shoot an innocent man… and he did.
Jeff Weinhaus has had a Habeus Corpus sitting for almost three years in the Federal Court of Missouri. The evidence of Trooper Folsom’s mental state, his previous shooting, as well as all of the other evidence that exonerated Weinhaus would have been known to Missouri State Attorney General Josh Hawley which obligated him, by duty, to intercede, but instead it was withheld from his office.
The petition for Habeus Corpus was denied without the opportunity to appeal.
Along the course of the last eight years, every single person in a position of power whose hands the Jeffrey Weinhaus case has fallen into has failed him as well as failed their title.
Justice has been blinded by the very people meant to serve and protect.
Our judicial system is meant to protect us. It is meant to serve justice. When it fails there must be an answer. There must be a rectification. Where injustice was done it must be righted.
Jeffrey Weinhaus was shot four times. He sits in prison to this day, an innocent man, with every legal option being denied by courts that have the evidence to exonerate him. It is time to set justice straight and not only exonerate Jeffrey Weinhaus and release him from his cage, but also to examine the system that was so broken that it resulted in this travesty.
Throughout this process people all the way from county prosecutors to state attorneys have had, in their possession, information that exonerated an innocent man. A man who had already almost died as the result of the decisions of a State Trooper who was mentally unfit to serve in the position he was in. All of these people holding the keys to Jeffrey Weinhaus’s freedom remained silent and allowed this travesty of justice to occur.
Jeffrey Weinhaus fought to bring accountability and justice back into our judicial system. He fought for the victims. He is now, an innocent man, a victim not once, but twice to the broken system he tried to change.
He was shot then falsely convicted to a prison sentence that equates to the rest of his life.
He was never given the chance for the physical therapy and care that he needed. He will have permanent physical damage for the rest of his life. He has already lost eight years.
With responsibly, there must come accountability.
As citizens, we demand accountability and justice for the false arrest and conviction of Jeffrey Weinhaus.
As citizens, we demand answers.
To read the case of Sgt Henry James Folsom against the MSHP go to: