New trial turned down for Cape man convicted of two robberies

A man convicted of two armed robberies in Cape Girardeau lost his bid for a new trial when his appeal was turned down by the Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals.

James L. Woodson, 43, is serving two 30-year sentences for the Aug. 19, 1999, robbery of the Citgo convenience store at 263 Farrar Drive and a Pizza Hut, formerly at 703 Broadway, three days later. Woodson was convicted of both crimes by a Scott County jury in 2002 and sentenced to concurrent 30-year sentences as a prior and persistent offender. The case was moved to Scott County on a change of venue.

The appeals ruling delivered Wednesday was Woodson's second attempt to overturn the conviction. In his latest appeal, Woodson's current attorney, S. Kristina Stark, argued that his previous lawyers had failed to provide him effective representation.

The attorneys failed, the appeal claimed, by not thoroughly investigating witnesses who identified someone else in a photo lineup in the Pizza Hut robbery and by making no attempt to suppress the witness identification of Woodson for the Citgo robbery.

Claims rejected

Writing for the three-judge panel from the appeals court, Judge Phillip R. Garrison rejected both claims.

On failing to investigate the witness identification from the Pizza Hut robbery, Garrison wrote that Woodsoon "presented no evidence at the evidentiary hearing, beyond mere allegations, regarding what information counsel failed to discover, how such information could have been revealed or how it would have aided his position."

And in dismissing the argument that the identification in the Citgo robbery should have been suppressed, Garrison wrote that omissions in the witness' testimony were matters for the jury and that the police work wasn't "unnecessarily suggestive" in a way that would mislead the witness into identifying Woodson.

Under Missouri law, Woodson must serve at least 85 percent, or 27 1/2 years, of his sentence. He is also serving a separate 25-year sentence for another robbbery conviction in Scott County.

Woodson is in prison at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Mo.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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