Cornealious Michael "Mike" Anderson III (born ) is an American who was convicted of armed robbery in 2000 and sentenced to thirteen years in the Missouri state prison system. Due to a clerical error, his bond was not revoked when a warrant was issued for his arrest, and Anderson was not arrested because the Missouri Department of Corrections thought he was already in prison. The error was only discovered when he was scheduled to be released from prison in 2013 and he was arrested and required to serve his sentence. His arrest stirred national controversy, especially since he was a changed man by that time, and on appeal Anderson was set free in 2014.
Robbery and conviction
On August 15, 1999 in St. Charles, Missouri, Anderson and a companion robbed a Burger King manager at gunpoint of approximately $2,000 while he was attempting to deposit the money in a night deposit box at a bank. A witness observed Anderson and his companion leaving in a car and reported the license plate number to the police. When the police ran the number, they found that it was registered to 22-year-old Cornealious Michael Anderson. The next day, St. Charles police found Anderson's car in a parking lot about a mile from the bank, but they did not catch him until two months later, when he was found hiding in his girlfriend's apartment.
In March 2000, Anderson's jury trial for armed robbery began. Although police never recovered a weapon, they searched Anderson's apartment and found an advertisement brochure for Beretta semiautomatic pistols. The St. Charles prosecutor in the case used the brochure to argue that although no weapon was found, Anderson owned a gun. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and Anderson was sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison.
Conviction appeal and subsequent years
Ten months after the robbery, Anderson left Fulton Diagnostic Center on a $25,000 bond. His attorney appealed the conviction based on the inclusion of the Beretta brochure as evidence in the trial because it introduced unfair prejudice. The appeals judge, however, reaffirmed his conviction. His attorney then appealed to the Supreme Court of Missouri, which heard the case in 2002. Four of the seven justices voted to uphold the conviction.
After the Supreme Court of Missouri's ruling, his bond was to have been revoked and Anderson arrested to serve his 13-year sentence, but unknown errors in communication occurred and Missouri Department of Corrections believed he was already in prison. In 2004, Anderson filed another appeal based on inadequate legal representation at his trial. The appeal stated that Anderson was not in prison and it gave his current address at the time, but the Missouri Department of Corrections apparently did not notice this. Nothing happened with the appeal and for the next seven years Anderson went on with his life. During this time, he met his wife, LaQonna. They married in 2007. Anderson founded a company (Anderson Construction and Investment) and led a normal life. He registered his business, he voted, he renewed his driver's licence all using his full name and address. His lawyer at the time told him that the state of Missouri would discover their mistake and that it was their job to find him. He told Today that he began to think "Maybe they just wiped the slate clean".
2013 rearrest and appeal
On July 25, 2013, marshals arrested Anderson at his home. An arrest warrant had been issued for Anderson after it was discovered that he was not in prison when he was scheduled to be released. Up until that time, his wife had no knowledge of his prior robbery conviction. He was held in Southeast Correctional Center in Missouri.
On December 30, 2013, Anderson filed a writ of habeas corpus arguing that the 13-year delay in serving his sentence violated due process and that separating him from his family and the constructive life he had made for himself since he was convicted would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
On April 15, 2014, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, his response to show cause order for Cornealious Anderson v. Ian Wallace, stated that the 13-year delay in serving his sentence was not cruel and unusual punishment. Koster wrote in the legal filing that "The United States Supreme Court has upheld much more severe sentences for much less serious crimes" and suggested that Anderson should instead file a petition with the Missouri Department of Corrections for 11.5 years credit for the time he was not in prison: