Former Sikeston DPS director denies knowing about allegations against detective

Former Sikeston, Missouri, Department of Public Safety director Drew Juden on Wednesday denied all knowledge of allegations made against a detective accused of threatening a witness the day before David Robinson stood trial for the 2000 murder of Sheila Box.

Juden, who was appointed as the director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety by Gov. Eric Greitens earlier this year, appeared in Cape Girardeau with the governor, who held a news conference Wednesday along with law-enforcement officers to promote Greitens’ agenda for reducing drug trafficking.

Juden was one of the officers who helped take Robinson into custody hours after Box was shot Aug. 5, 2000, when he still was a captain with Sikeston DPS. He was chosen to lead the department the following year.

Assisting Juden the night of the Box murder was the lead detective on the case, John Blakely.

Blakely’s investigation has been questioned after two witness recanted their testimonies, another man confessed to murdering Box and after three witnesses accused the detective of criminal tampering in the case.

Juden’s statement on Wednesday is the first indication these accusations were not investigated. Police and city officials have not commented on the case or the accusations, which surfaced in 2001 but were stated under oath in 2004.

In 2001, Robinson’s defense subpoenaed a man named Ronnie Coleman to testify he knew the prosecution’s star witness, Albert Baker, was lying about having seen Robinson commit the murder.

Coleman disobeyed the subpoena and instead hid during Robinson’s trial after he said Blakely called him and threatened if Coleman showed up to testify, he would be arrested on a pending drug charge.

Coleman, in subsequent depositions and a 2017 interview with the Southeast Missourian, said Blakely told him the pending charge would disappear if he skipped Robinson’s trial, which he did.

Robinson was convicted and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for Box’s murder.

Blakely since has denied Coleman’s allegation — and others — under oath and is still a detective with Sikeston DPS.

Juden served as chief of that department from 2001 until early this year, when Greitens tapped him to lead the statewide DPS.

Last year, about the time the Southeast Missourian began making inquiries to the department about the case, Juden requested, via Blakely, a copy of the tape in which Romanze Mosby confessed to the murder, according to emails obtained by the Southeast Missourian as part of a Sunshine Law request to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

Days later, Blakely emailed assistant attorney general Katherine Dolin, who helped prosecute Robinson, saying Juden had requested court transcripts from Robinson’s trial.

The email exchanges did not show requests from Juden seeking other materials such as depositions which would have referenced Coleman’s accusations.

Juden said Wednesday during his tenure as Sikeston DPS director, he did not make a habit of reviewing depositions made by officers under his command in murder cases.

After that event, Greitens told the Southeast Missourian he was unfamiliar with Robinson’s case when he named Juden to his current office.

“I don’t know about that case specifically, but I can tell you this: Director Juden has my full and complete support,” Greitens said. “He is an outstanding law-enforcement officer, he is an outstanding front-line leader, and he’s done tremendous work as our director of the Department of Public Safety.”

Asked whether he would consider pardoning Robinson in light of the recantations, accusations, taped Mosby confession and evidence in the case that is missing from the Attorney General’s Office, Greitens pivoted back to Juden.

“I am 100 percent behind Director Juden,” Greitens said, adding, “He (Juden) is doing a fantastic job for the people of Missouri.”

The current director of Sikeston DPS, Mike Williams, who also attended the event Wednesday, referred questions related to the Box murder to the Attorney General’s Office and declined to answer other questions.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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