Clay County prosecutors send Timothy Haslett case, other cases back to grand jury
Clay County prosecutors are sending accused Excelsior Springs kidnapper and rapist Timothy Haslett Jr.’s case among others back to a grand jury because of a technical and procedural issue, officials announced Tuesday.
An issue with the impaneled grand jury between November 2022 and March 2023 led the prosecuting attorney’s office to send cases heard in that time back to a grand jury, said prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson in a news release.
“While it is not believed that this issue presents any prejudice or violation of defendants’ constitutional rights,” Thompson said, “we have decided out of an abundance of caution to take proactive steps to cure all indictments that were issued during that period of time.”
The cases were resubmitted Tuesday morning, but no new charges will be filed and no changes will be made to custody statuses or bond amounts.
Thompson said the error is not the fault of the court or the prosecuting attorney’s office, but said he couldn’t share further information without overstepping the legal confidentiality of the grand jury.
Haslett, who is accused of holding a 22-year-old woman against her will in his Excelsior Springs basement and raping her repeatedly, was indicted by a grand jury in February on nine charges, including first-degree rape, four counts of first-degree sodomy, first-degree kidnapping, two counts of second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
His bond is set at $3 million.
