Prosecutor: No acquittal in Robinson case; state could seek new trial

Scott County Prosecutor Paul Boyd said Thursday the Missouri Supreme Court did not acquit David Robinson and he could be retried for a 17-year-old murder.

The high court's decision to set aside his conviction on the grounds he met the "gateway claim" of innocence does not mean he has been exonerated, Boyd said.

"Mr. Robinson's convictions have been set aside with the opportunity of the State to file charges for a new trial," he wrote in a news release emailed to the Southeast Missourian.

"The Missouri Attorney General's office is reviewing the order for further action," Boyd said. The Missouri Attorney General's Office, which conducted the prosecution, has 30 days to decide whether to retry Robinson.

The burden of proof now lies back with the state, however.

Boyd, who was not involved in the prosecution, said in an email to the Southeast Missourian that "Mr. Robinson was granted habeas relief as to a new trial" as a result of a trial error.

Boyd's comments come despite a judge's report that "no physical evidence links David Robinson to the crime, and a great deal of new evidence demonstrates that David Robinson is innocent."

The state's high court issued a one-page order Tuesday overturning his conviction, citing constitutional violations in his case.

Robinson has been fighting for his release ever since he was convicted of Sheila Box's murder in August 2001 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Box was murdered Aug. 5, 2000, in Sikeston, Missouri.

The Supreme Court ruling followed a lengthy opinion offered by Judge Darrell Missey, who was appointed special master by the court to hear evidence in the case and make a recommendation regarding Robinson's claim of innocence.

Boyd wrote in an email accompanying the news release that "given the Supreme Court's chosen language in the order regarding 'gateway,' I submit the crux of the findings made by J. Missey were not adopted by the Supreme Court."

Boyd said in the news release, issued under the Office of Scott County Prosecuting Attorney letterhead, that "Judge Missey found that there was a "free standing" claim of innocence in his final report. However, the Missouri Supreme Court did not adopt his language in their order. In fact, the Supreme Court does not mention what constitutional violations occurred that require a new trial. The Supreme Court did not allow briefing or argument by either party before granting this relief.

"Judge Missey proposed that, if the Missouri Supreme Court disagreed with his analysis regarding Robinson's 'free standing' claim of innocence, the Court should consider his "gateway" claim of actual innocence. The 'gateway' threshold has a lesser burden of proof than 'free standing' actual innocence and allows courts to examine previously unraised claims of constitutional errors at trial. We have to review the final report to determine what might have supported the Supreme Court's finding of constitutional violations.

"From review of the final report, Judge Missey found that the constitutional violation that occurred at trial was the State's presentation of the perjured testimony of Jason Richison.

"Mr. Richison testified that he was in a cell with David Robinson. Mr. Richison was supposed to have overheard Mr. Robinson say, 'I shot the bitch, who cares?' Judge Missey found that Mr. Richison did not share a cell with David Robinson, though he may have been in the same pod with him while in jail. Based on that discrepancy, Judge Missey found that Mr. Richison's testimony was false and the prosecutor should have corrected the presentation of the evidence at trial." Boyd said in the release.

"Judge Missey determined that the presentation of this evidence by the State was not done in bad faith," he said.

However, Missey said in his 95-page written report that Sikeston detective John Blakeley, who city officials recently reassigned to the fire division, was "not credible." Blakely was the lead investigator in the murder case.

Missey wrote that Blakely, whose wife is an assistant prosecutor in Boyd's office, contradicted other witnesses and "contradicts himself and gives accounts of events that seem remarkably unlikely."

Robinson was convicted on false testimony, with the two key witnesses later recanting their testimonies. Another man, Romanze Mosby, confessed to the murder to several people in 2004, including Butch Johnson, an investigator with the state public defender office capital case division. Johnson recorded the confession, but Mosby at the time would not sign an affidavit to make his confession official. Five years later, after reading a Southeast Missourian story indicating Robinson had attained the legal counsel of the Bryan Cave Law Firm in St. Louis, Mosby, just weeks from being released from prison, hanged himself in his jail cell.

Boyd stated in his news release the "constitutional violation" found by Missey was "the State's presentation of the perjured testimony of Jason Richison."

As such, Boyd said Missey concluded that "false evidence used in a conviction requires a new trial."

Boyd's news release does not mention the special master's report concludes there is "clear and convincing evidence" Robinson is innocent of the crime.

The Supreme Court's order said "in light of constitutional violations", plural, Robinson was entitled to habeas corpus relief. Missey also wrote that Robinson's conviction resulted from the presentation of false evidence at trial, the procurement and presentation of which violated David Robionson's due process rights under the Constitution of the United States and the State of Missouri." He also cited both the police and prosecutor as knowing Richison gave false testimony.

Jonathan Potts, a member of the Bryan Cave Law Firm in St. Louis representing Robinson pro bono, said the law team would not offer a comment on Boyd's statement, other than "to maintain our position that, in our view, any further prosecution of David would be a travesty."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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