Two witnesses apologize to Robinson during first day's hearing

HILLSBORO, Mo. — David Robinson shuffled into the Jefferson County courthouse Wednesday morning and waved to his family.

They filled half the gallery, many wearing “Justice for David” shirts. Robinson’s shackles jingled as he stooped to wipe his eyes.

“I’mma get emotional,” he said quietly, taking his seat at the defendant’s table to wait for Judge Darrell Missey.

After 17 years of struggle, Missey represented Robinson’s best hope for freedom.

Robinson is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2000 murder of Sheila Box in Sikeston, Missouri.

David Robinson's brother, Justin Robinson, and cousin, Betty Sharp, stand outside the Jefferson County Courthouse after the first of six days of testimony before a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday in Hillsboro, Missouri.Laura Simon

He maintains his innocence, but in 2001, he was convicted despite the absence of physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Both jailhouse informants whose testimony helped convict Robinson since have recanted under oath, and another Sikeston man, Romanze Mosby, confessed to killing Box in a taped interview.

But all Robinson’s appeals so far have failed.

Wednesday’s hearing marked the first of six days of testimony prescribed by the Missouri Supreme Court, which appointed Missey as special master to review the case.

Just after 9 a.m., Missey called for opening statements before the cross-examination of four witnesses.

David Robinson's attorneys, Jonathan Potts, left, Charles Weiss, center, and Stephen Snodgrass leave the Jefferson County Courthouse after the first of six days of testimony before a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday in Hillsboro, Missouri.Laura Simon

Charlie Weiss of the Bryan Cave Law Firm laid out the case for the defense, mentioning the lack of physical evidence tying Robinson to the crime and the payments made by police to the prosecution’s star witness, Albert Baker, whose original testimony named Robinson as the killer.

All the other evidence in the case, Weiss said, “contradicts and belies Mr. Baker’s testimony.”

Weiss went on to list dozens of factors he argued totally undermine the state’s case for keeping Robinson in prison.

Assistant attorney general Katharine Dolin’s opening statement cited the 2016 decision in Lincoln v. Cassady, in which the court found “the Missouri Supreme Court has not recognized a freestanding claim of actual innocence in cases where the death penalty has not been imposed.”

“We already tried this murder case,” Dolin said, urging the court to keep that in mind.

She called the credibility of defense witnesses into question and pointed out the fact Baker passed a polygraph test corroborating his original testimony.

But Baker, the first witness called, stuck by his recantation, calling his original testimony “all lies.”

Wednesday was Baker’s 55th birthday, and he looked stiff and tired as he took the stand, sporting a gray scruff of beard and a gray-striped prison jumpsuit that matched Robinson’s.

“I admit that I perjured,” Baker told Robinson’s attorney, Jim Wyrsch. “The detectives said they would change my life.”

He described receiving payments, relief from then-pending criminal charges and witness-protection benefits from Sikeston police in exchange for providing false testimony.

Under cross-examination, Baker told Dolin he knew Robinson before the murder because Robinson had sold him drugs.

Dolin asked Baker about a statement he previously had made in which he claimed to have seen Robinson shooting a gun into the air July 4, 2000 — a month before the murder.

Baker confirmed that statement but also claimed to have seen Robinson shooting a gun into the air the night of the murder.

Dolin further questioned Baker on that point because his latter claim appeared to surprise her and Robinson’s attorneys, but Baker restated the claim.

When he also reiterated the falsehood of his original testimony, Dolin asked him how he passed a polygraph if he was lying.

He said before he took the test, lead detective in the Box case Sikeston police detective John Blakely gave him pills.

Baker said he’s allergic to aspirin, but the pills didn’t cause a reaction other than to calm him.

“Police drugged you?” Dolin asked.

“That’s basically what I can honestly say,” Baker said. “I was trying to relax.”

At two points during his testimony, Baker turned from Dolin to address Robinson directly.

“I already knew I had lied, and I apologize to you,” Baker told Robinson. “I can’t make it up to you.”

Robinson made no response other than to drop his head, thump a foot on the ground and again wipe his eyes.

Near the end of Baker’s testimony, Dolin asked him, if he stood by his recantation, why he had disobeyed a subpoena for a recent hearing in the case.

Baker recalled receiving the subpoena, but not knowing what to do.

He said the only number he could think to call was that of Blakely’s, who he said told him he didn’t have to show up.

“The person you were so afraid of, you called him?” Dolin asked.

“Yup. Why? ’Cause I wanted to know, did I have to be there?” Baker said. “He told me I didn’t have to be there.”

The next witness called was Carlos Jones, the first cousin of Romanze Mosby.

Defense attorney Stephen Snodgrass asked Jones when Mosby told him about killing Box.

“He ain’t actually have to tell me,” Jones said, scratching his jaw with a finger. “I was there.”

Jones described standing in his uncle’s yard at 845 Ruth St. and seeing Box’s SUV pull up.

“[Mosby] jumped on the rail of the Suburban, they got to talking, and the gun went off,” Jones said.

When asked whether he ever talked to Robinson about the shooting while the two of them were incarcerated together, Jones addressed Robinson directly.

“Bro, I apologize,” Jones said.

“I know you finna get mad at me, but I knew.”

Questioned by Dolin, Jones admitted to having smoked marijuana the night of the murder, though he denied he’d been impaired, arguing he and Mosby were the only ones on Ruth Street that night, and he’d be able to recognize his own cousin.

Jones also said then-Scott County sheriff’s deputy Bobby Sullivan and Sikeston detective Chris Rataj knew about Mosby as a suspect.

“Sikeston’s finest knew the situation,” he said.

The third witness to testify was Ronnie Robinson (no relation to the defendant).

Ronnie Robinson owned a detail shop on Branum Street in Sikeston and told the court he saw Box’s two-tone SUV careening north on Branum, past his shop, and nearly hitting another driver before it crashed into the Tradewinds flea market.

He said he saw neither David Robinson nor Albert Baker anywhere in the area that night.

Dolin asked why he didn’t come forward sooner.

“I didn’t think even he’d be charged with [the murder],” Ronnie Robinson said.

The last witness was Antonio Johnson, the driver whom Ronnie Robinson saw nearly struck by Box’s SUV.

Johnson said he initially assumed it was a drunk driver and described the path the SUV took, which was consistent with the accounts of Jones and Ronnie Robinson but contradicted the original testimony of Albert Baker.

Johnson said he didn’t call the cops because, “I didn’t have a license at the time, for real.”

Dolin asked whether he’d discussed his testimony with anyone before Wednesday’s hearing.

Johnson, who has pending criminal charges for drugs and weapons-related offenses, said one person tried to talk to him while he was in the Sikeston police station.

“That Blakely dude was trying to talk to me about it,” he said.

When Dolin asked for clarification, Johnson testified he stopped the conversation before any specific questions could be asked by Blakely.

“I don’t know,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want to (talk with Blakely).”

The hearing was adjourned before 1 p.m. and will resume at 9 a.m. today.

After the hearing, Robinson’s mother, Jennett McCaster, said she felt good about how it had gone.

“From what I heard today, it should have been dismissed today,” she said.

Seeing Baker and Jones apologize directly to Robinson was hard, McCaster said.

“It just broke my heart,” she said.

“I’m just proud they stuck with their word and told the truth.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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