Does this video show MO state troopers tampering with evidence? An attorney says it does

Giacomo Bologna | Springfield News-Leader

Show Caption Hide Caption Attorney says troopers tampered with evidence An attorney for the embattled sheriff of Texas County wants criminal charges dismissed, claiming troopers tampered with evidence.

An attorney for the embattled sheriff of Texas County says state troopers tampered with — and potentially destroyed — evidence in the case.

The attorney claims security footage from the Texas County Jail shows two troopers and a nurse removing a medical record from an inmate's file. The medical record reportedly documented injuries to the inmate, who was allegedly beaten in front of Sheriff James Sigman.

A special prosecutor in July charged Sigman and his chief deputy, Jennifer Tomaszewski, with an array of felonies including first-degree assault, robbery and endangering the welfare of a child. Authorities say Sigman and Tomaszewski were in a romantic relationship.

Some of the criminal charges stem from an alleged altercation in the jail, in which authorities say Tomaszewski struck a mentally disabled man who was unconscious while Sigman stood by and did nothing.

Before charges were filed, the highway patrol executed a search warrant on the sheriff's office to gather evidence in the case.

Sigman's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming security footage shows troopers and a jail nurse tampering with evidence during the May 29 raid.

The motion says the trooper took evidence related to the assault victim out of one file and created a false file.

A jail nurse took the original file, put it in her purse, and left the sheriff's office, the motion says.

Sigman's attorney, Jason Coatney, claims that file contains an important medical record, which the highway patrol now says is missing.

Coatney filed a motion to dismiss criminal charges against Sigman and Tomaszewski and included the security footage as an attachment to his motion.

Coatney called the trooper's actions "indefensible."

Capt. John Hotz of the highway patrol declined to comment on the allegations.

The alleged cover-up revolves around a man with a mental disability who was incarcerated in the Texas County Jail.

Coatney's motion says the man was charged with felony assault in February.

While incarcerated in the Texas County Jail, the man was charged with additional crimes for assaulting jailers and bailiffs, according to the motion.

Authorities say there was an altercation on Valentine's Day.

The man — who reportedly has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old child — was resisting orders and was rendered unconscious while jailers tried to restrain him, according to a probable cause statement written by a trooper.

The probable cause statement says deputies came down to the jail to find Tomaszewski straddling the mentally disabled man and striking him in the face with her elbows.

"If we hadn't been there, they would have killed that boy," a deputy allegedly said. "He was completely unconscious and his lips were turning blue."

Authorities say Tomaszewski later bragged about the incident.

Court documents filed by the highway patrol say the man's inmate file contained several incident reports related to Tomaszewski attacking the disabled man — but there was a problem with the file.

Not only are reports in the file "not accurate," troopers say, but a report written by the jail's nurse is missing.

The motion to dismiss charges says that report might already have been destroyed by the nurse or someone else.

The motion alleges that troopers Dan Nash and Travis Hitchcock, along with jail nurse Wanda Etchason, removed the real file, then replaced it with a fake file that no longer contains the medical record related to the alleged assault.

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The motion says Etchason's husband was a jailer whom Sigman fired earlier this year.

According to the motion, the indictment against Sigman lists 45 witnesses, including four troopers with the highway patrol, but Nash and Hitchcock are not among them.

The News-Leader reviewed the footage referenced in the motion to dismiss criminal charges.

The video shows a trooper — identified in the motion as Travis Hitchcock — rifling through records in the medical room, while in the presence of Sigman and another trooper.

Hitchcock leaves the room and speaks with Nash, then the sheriff and the other trooper leave the room.

Later, Nash appears to ask a jailer to let him back into the medical room.

Once inside, Nash goes straight to the files Hitchcock was looking through.

Nash picks out a manila folder and appears to put some of its contents into a new manila folder.

Nash takes the original manila folder and leaves the medical room, then shows it to another trooper.

Nash appears to ask a jailer to put the manila folder back in the medical room, which she does.

Later, Etchason is in the medical room. She sets aside a manila folder that appears to be the one Nash had been handling earlier.

Etchason appears to do some work before eventually leaving with the manila folder in hand.

Etchason is shown on video walking out of the sheriff’s office and driving away with the manila folder.

Sigman was being held in the Greene County Jail until posting a $500,000 bond, court records show.

Here is a summary of some of the other allegations against Sigman and Tomaszewski in the probable cause statement: