Judge hears Mosby's formerly suppressed confession at Robinson hearing

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- Romanze Mosby mumbled under the hiss on the cassette, but as the taped statement he made in 2004 filled the Jefferson County Courtroom on Tuesday, his confession was unmistakable.

"She raised up, and I shot her," he said on the tape.

It was a story many had heard before: In 2000, Mosby killed Sheila Box during a drug deal in Sikeston, Missouri.

But this time -- for the first time -- Mosby's confession was heard by a judge. That judge, Darrell Missey, is the man the Missouri Supreme Court appointed to review the Box case and evaluate the innocence claims of the man serving a life sentence without parole for the murder, David Robinson.

Robinson was in the courtroom as his attorneys played the tape, which in previous proceedings was deemed inadmissible as hearsay because Mosby refused to authorize it with his signature.

Butch Johnson

Investigator Butch Johnson, who taped the confession, took the stand Tuesday to explain how his interview with Mosby transpired.

Johnson said Mosby was initially combative but for some reason didn't leave the interview as was his right. Johnson said he kept talking.

"I looked up from my questions and saw his eyes were beginning to well up," Johnson testified. "He just broke down crying."

Mosby then confessed, Johnson said, and agreed to go on tape.

After taping the confession, Johnson summoned the prison notary, who was on her lunch break. In the hour Johnson said it took for the notary to return, Mosby became increasingly withdrawn, returning to his cell without signing the statement.

Assistant attorney general Katharine Dolin, right, exits the Jefferson County Courthouse on Tuesday in Hillsboro, Missouri, with an associate after the third of six days of testimony before a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court.Laura Simon

Mosby committed suicide in his cell in 2009, two months before he was due to be released from prison.

Assistant attorney general Katharine Dolin objected to playing the tape, as the prosecution still believes it to be hearsay.

"I'm going to allow it," Judge Missey said. "I'm interested to hear it."

After the tape was played, Johnson was questioned about his role in Robinson's post-conviction appeals, especially in regard to Albert Baker, the witness whose now-recanted testimony named Robinson as the shooter.

The state called Elizabeth Bock, who prosecuted the original case, to testify after Johnson. Bock now is an associate circuit judge in Douglas County, Missouri, but in 2001 was assistant attorney general.

She testified she was unaware of any recantation by Baker or the state's other main witness, Jason Richison.

Bock acknowledged Baker was paid through a witness-protection program. She recalled how that was discussed at trial but said she was unaware of any deals made between Baker and police for his testimony.

She also said she saw no reason to suspect there may have been any such deals.

Likewise, Richison's schizophrenia was discussed at trial, as was the fact parts of his testimony were untrue.

He claimed to have been Robinson's cellmate and to have slept above him on the top bunk, despite jail records showing they shared only common spaces and never a cell.

Bock testified Richison had a good demeanor, made eye contact and made sense before Robinson's trial.

"He was normal," she said. "He seemed very stable."

Had he seemed otherwise, she said, he never would have been used as a witness.

Regarding Mosby as a suspect, Bock said that came to light "right before the trial."

The investigation of Mosby was being done mostly by then-Scott County sheriff's deputy Bobby Sullivan, who later testified he only pursued the lead after investigators with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety expressed their unwillingness to consider Mosby as a suspect.

Bock testified Tuesday that working with Sullivan was "causing us (the prosecution) enormous difficulty."

Defense attorney Charlie Weiss brought up a pretrial deposition in which Baker claimed under oath to have spent a week in jail after telling detectives he saw Robinson shoot Box, when he actually was released on his own recognizance hours after meeting with Sikeston police detective John Blakely.

Bock said she read the transcript before the trial, but had "no memory of this."

Weiss also pointed to a message Bock wrote on an October 2004 fax that stated, "Told Blakely [to] have no contact with Baker."

Bock said she did this because "no one should be having contact with this fella (Baker)," but added she did not know whether Blakely had contacted Baker.

She also cited a letter Johnson wrote to Baker that she suggested was inappropriate, but Weiss pointed out the letter wasn't sent until more than a week after Bock's note was written.

Dolin asked whether perhaps Bock wrote the note later, using the fax as scratch paper.

"I don't know," Bock responded. "Could've been; could've not been."

After the hearing, Robinson's brother, Justin, said the testimony so far has been encouraging.

"After hearing the testimony the first three days, it's kind of like, David has not even been implicated," he said. "Is this even about David?"

He said Bock's cross-examination was particularly significant because she cited inconsistencies in Robinson's alibi before admitting inconsistencies in her testimony.

"She said a while back that they popped David's alibi," Justin Robinson said. "Well, I felt like today, (Weiss) popped hers."

tgraef@semissourian.com (573) 388-3627