In the spring of 2021, Cecilia Williams lost her son, daughter-in-law and grandson to a drunken driver.

Williams, who lives in Bonne Terre, is now raising the two orphaned grandchildren who survived, Bentley and Mason.

A year later, Melanie Wankum was hit head-on by a drunken driver, killing her instantly and injuring a passenger on their way back from a wedding.

In both tragedies, families of the victims became advocates on their behalf, championing tougher laws in Missouri against drunken driving.

Soon after the crash that killed her son and his family, Williams found herself in Jefferson City lobbying for a bill that would hold drunken drivers responsible for children left without a parent after an accident.

It would require convicted drunken drivers to pay child support to the surviving children until they are at least 18, or 21 if they are still in school.

Named after Williams’ grandsons, the legislation was introduced in 2021 and signed by the governor five years later on July 9. Tennessee was the first state and Missouri was the eighth to pass a version of “Bentley Law.”

The child-support provision was included this year in Missouri House Bill 1740, which also stiffened other drunken driving laws. The additional provisions have become known as “Melanie’s Law,” to recognize the woman killed in 2022 by a drunken driver in Jefferson City.

Melanie’s Law changed felony classifications for DWI cases that cause injury or death to require longer prison sentences. It also expanded the mandatory use of ignition interlock devices for those involved in alcohol-related incidents. Missouri is one of 35 states with similar laws.

“The pain a family feels when a loved one is killed by a drunk driver is one that never goes away,” said state Rep. Dave Griffith, who sponsored the legislation.

The bill went through a number of revisions before it was passed, Griffith said.

“At each one of those steps, I think we’re very thoughtful about how we can make the bill better and how it’s going to affect the families that suffer and deal with this,” Griffith said.

“Driving while intoxicated is a choice,” he said. “It’s my hope that when people know the ramifications of making those bad decisions they will think twice before getting behind the wheel.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a national organization with offices in Missouri, has been consistently involved in pushing for enactment of the stricter legislation. Working closely with Cecilia Williams, the organization supported the Missouri bill until it passed.

“Cecilia has been dedicated to turning the tragic crash into a way to honor her loved ones, as well as raise awareness of the dangers of driving impaired,” said Tabitha Perkins, state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“For Missouri, we hope this bill will serve as a deterrent to individuals who drink and drive,” Perkins said. “Knowing that even after they are released from prison, they will still have a financial obligation to complete will make drivers think twice before they get behind the wheel of a deadly weapon in an impaired state.”

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Schmitt, Hawley back Blanche for Attorney General

By Kaleb Anderson, Missouri News Network

WASHINGTON — Missouri’s two U.S. senators voiced support Wednesday for Todd Blanche to become attorney general of the U.S. at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Blanche, whose nomination has been deeply controversial, was President Donald Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney in 2023, when the president faced a series of state and federal criminal charges. He was then nominated by Trump to be deputy attorney general in 2024.

After he fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April, Trump named Blanche acting attorney general before nominating him for the job last month.

There has been bipartisan concern that Blanche’s ties to Trump represent a conflict of interest and that his decisions will be shaped by his close relationship to the president.

Supporters, including the two GOP members of the Missouri delegation who sit on the Judiciary Committee, dismissed those concerns during Wednesday’s hearing. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said he is not concerned about Blanche’s ability to do the job properly.

“He’s going to be the president’s attorney general, so I assume he’ll implement the president’s policies,” Hawley said. “So he’s not going to be neutral in that respect.”

Hawley said his primary concern is the role the Department of Justice may play in reversing Biden administration policy regarding mail-order abortion drugs. The Biden administration removed “President Trump’s safety restrictions on this chemical abortion drug,” Hawley said.

A state judge last month ruled a state law unconstitutional that had banned mail-order abortion drugs since 2018, citing the 2024 passage of Amendment 3 to the Missouri Constitution.

“So my state went to court to try to defend our state’s laws … now we have President Trump, but that means that now we have the state of Missouri, a Republican state, along with a number of other conservative Republican states, are in court against a Republican administration fighting over Joe Biden’s abortion policy,” Hawley said.

Asked by Hawley how he would resolve this issue, Blanche said he wouldn’t discuss litigation but said the FDA is going through a review process of the abortion drugs before the administration takes any action.

“We have to be able to say to a judge, probably in this district, that our change was not arbitrary and capricious. So (the DOJ) is trying to let FDA do their work so that we can continue to protect the lives of unborn children,” Blanche said.

Hawley also raised concerns about former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith. News reports say Smith obtained text messages between the White House and 44 members of Congress as part of his probe of potential election interference.

When asked if the phone records he received for his subpoena of White House records included the content of the text messages, Smith testified under oath that they did not, during a closed-door congressional deposition in December 2025.

Hawley asked Blanche if he’s considered investigating Smith for perjury, to which Blanche replied yes.

“I think he absolutely should be investigated. I think he absolutely should be prosecuted, if at all possible. And based on his responses under oath, I think he should be,” Hawley said.

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt also raised the prospect of prosecuting Smith.

“Jack Smith testified under oath he didn’t (read the text messages). He testified that they just had the phone logs. We know that’s not true now,” Schmitt said. “Jack Smith should be subject to prosecution for lying to Congress.”

Schmitt also lauded Blanche’s work during his first 100 days in office, and thanked him for his deployment of additional FBI agents in St. Louis and Kansas City.

“People feel safer,” Schmitt said. “It’s a great American turnaround as relates to crime. Those numbers hopefully will continue, and I look forward to working with you on those efforts as well.”

Other senators expressed their concerns with the potential confirmation, citing Blanche’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which would have been used to pay out defendants who took part in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and came from Trump’s settlement with the IRS.

Blanche said — as he has before after Republicans expressed concern — that the fund will not move forward.

“There’s no modification,” Blanche said. “It’s just — it never started. No money went from the Treasury to any other account. There’s no commissioners. It’s not moving forward.” He has declined to put in writing that the fund is dead, raising concerns among senators from both parties.

Some senators also expressed disappointment with the slow Justice Department response to a law requiring the release of the Epstein files and Blanche’s meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein serving time for her crimes in federal prison.

Blanche acknowledged that “mistakes were made” by failing to redact certain victims’ names from the files, but would not commit to meeting with the victims personally.

“We remain available to meet with any victim or their representative at any time … if they’re represented by counsel, I’m not allowed to meet with them directly, as you know,” he said.

Following U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death over the weekend, there are 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Blanche needs the support of all Republicans for his nomination to be reported favorably to the full Senate.

Several Republican senators have withheld support pending the outcome of the hearings and personal meetings with Blanche.