Judge rules candidate disqualified from race

Nevada Daily Mail

Circuit Judge Timothy Perigo, in an order filed in Vernon County Court, ruled that Dustin Dunfield be disqualified as a candidate for Vernon County Prosecuting Attorney.

Perigo's ruling ordered Vernon County Clerk Tammi Beach to remove Dunfield's name from the Nov. 4 ballot.

Dunfield can appeal the ruling to the Missouri Court of Appeals. Phone messages left at his law office in Nevada Tuesday and Thursday haven't been returned.

Dunfield had filed two suits July 23 in Cedar County Circuit Court: one to exempt him from filing as a sex offender and a second to remove from his closed record a 1996 felony plea to statutory rape.

Dunfield has maintained that he was never convicted, never pleaded guilty to and was never found guilty of a felony. In an earlier Daily Mail story, he said he has never committed statutory rape. He has also maintained that he is eligible to run for county prosecutor. He also cited a background check conducted by the Missouri Bar Association, which licenses lawyers and attorneys, as evidence that he had not committed a crime.

Current Vernon County Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Ewing, Dunfield's opponent in the November election, filed a petition Aug. 11 through his attorney, J. Lee Guthrie, challenging Dunfield's candidacy.

Perigo's judgment on the pleadings denied Dunfield's motion to set aside the guilty plea and that, "as a result of the court's findings, that contestee (Dunfield) has been found guilty in the State of Missouri of a felony, this court declares contestee Dunfield ineligible as a candidate for Vernon County Prosecuting Attorney."

The Republican Party Committee will have until Oct. 1 to nominate a replacement candidate.