Robinson, Sikeston settle case for $8M on wrongful imprisonment

Two years ago this week, David Robinson walked out of the Jefferson City Correctional Center after being freed hours after the recommendation of then-Missouri Attorney General (now U.S. senator) Josh Hawley that charges be dismissed.

Robinson's release ended a long legal battle freeing him from a life sentence for first-degree murder without the possibility of parole.

Friday, the city of Sikeston announced an $8 million settlement with Robinson.

Robinson, now 51, was convicted in 2001 of the August 5, 2000 murder of Sheila Box, found dead of a single gunshot wound to the chest in her Chevrolet Suburban.

Box, 36, was killed after leaving a Sikeston bar she co-owned with a reported $300 in cash and checks on her person.

The car had apparently crashed on West Malone Avenue in Sikeston.

Prosecutors did not produce physical evidence tying Robinson to the crime.

Robinson's conviction was based on the testimony of two jailhouse informants who later recanted their testimony.

Romanze D. Mosby, who had been serving a 10-year sentence in an unrelated case for assault, gave a taped confession to Box's slaying in 2004.

Mosby refused to authorize the confession with his signature, however.

Robinson continued to languish in prison.

Mosby, 26, took his own life at the penitentiary in June 2009.

Still, no release.

In 2018, Box's daughter, Cynthia King, told KFVS-TV she believed Robinson.

On Facebook after the settlement was made public, King posted, "I would like to take this time to congratulate David Robinson and his family in their final win for justice. Although no amount of money can give him back the 18 years he lost, I hope this impacts his life positively. However the thought remains, as always: there will never be any justice for my mother."

One of Robinson's St. Louis-based attorneys, Jim Wyrsch, said the legal team who worked the case and its many appeals is elated at Friday's news.

"We are very happy for David," Wyrsch said, "and hope he can now start to move on and put this nightmare behind him.

City manager Jonathan Douglass said Sikeston City Council authorized the settlement of Robinson's civil lawsuit on April 29.

The release and settlement agreement, obtained by the Southeast Missourian, reads in part: "The total settlement payment is intended to resolve Plaintiff's claim for damages on account of wrongful conviction and wrongful incarceration and damages on account of personal physical injuries and physical sickness."

The agreement also denied all of Robinson's allegations.

"The plaintiff agrees the defendants are making this compromise strictly to avoid costly and protracted litigation and to finally resolve (the) plaintiff's claims."

Douglass said the city of Sikeston's insurer will pay nearly all the $8 million with the city responsible only for the deductible.

"The deductible ($75,500) will be paid from (the city's) general fund," Douglass said.

Robinson, who is married with a 20-year old daughter, told the Southeast Missourian Friday night the financial settlement means "more justice came (in his case)."

Noting that he celebrated his two-year anniversary of freedom Thursday, Robinson said he is "not angry but overwhelmed" at the agreement worked out between his attorneys and the city of Sikeston.

"I'm free and financially blessed," Robinson added. "I can now move forward."

The settlement agreement specifies that Robinson nor any of the defendants "will ... make any statements to a known member of the media that maligns, denigrates or disparages any other party."

Few might understand how Robinson is feeling this weekend better than Josh Kezer, freed in 2009 after spending nearly 16 years in the same Jefferson City prison in which Robinson was incarcerated.

Kezer was released after a Cole County judge determined he had been wrongly convicted for the murder of 19-year old Angela Mischelle Lawless, whose body was found in 1992 near Benton, Missouri.

Kezer also received a reported multi-million dollar settlement.

"My settlement wasn't enough," said Kezer Friday.

"David Robinson's settlement isn't enough. Robinson deserves an open apology," Kezer added.