Pub. Def. Commission takes no action on Spears employment
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 4:35pm
admin
By:
Nate Hudson, staff writer
The Missouri Public Defender Commission have released a letter regarding their position on the employment of David Spears in response to a letter from state representatives who called for his termination.
As previously reported, Spears was convicted on lesser charges connected to the 2007 rape and murder of his stepdaughter, nine-year-old Rowan Ford, by Christopher Collings, a crime for which Collings was executed by the State of Missouri on Dec. 3. Spears, while initially charged with capital offenses, was eventually convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and hindering prosecution of a felony. Spears served eleven years in prison before receiving parole and being hired as a clerk typist in 2016 by the Missouri Public Defender's Office. He has been working as an administrative assistant at the West Plains office since 2020.
A letter dated Dec. 30, 2024, and signed by sixteen Missouri State Representatives called for the termination of Spears as a state employee.
The Public Defender Commission met virtually on Jan. 15 to discuss the Employee Background Check policy and any potential ability of the commission to hire or fire employees of the office was discussed. Like many commissions and boards, it was determined that the only person the commission could hire or fire was the director of the Public Defender System. The board did revise a part of their employee handbook concerning background checks, adding “Before making any final offer of employment to any individual who has pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of a felony offense, the Director shall notify and consult with the Chair of the Public Defender Commission.” The motion was unanimously approved by the commission.
A letter, signed by Commission Chair Charles Atwell, was released the day after the commission meeting, in which Spears' conviction was discussed. “Mr. Spears did not plead to lesser charges in return for his testimony against Christopher Callings and for disclosing the location of the child's body. There was no evidence presented in any of the many court proceedings that Mr. Spears in any way helped dispose of the child's body. While Mr. Spears did make a statement, the court conducted a seven-day hearing with testimony from expert witness Dr. Richard Leo that the statement was a false confession because of improper coercive police conduct.” It also says that while the homicide and sexual assault charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be tried again should sufficient evidence surface, “no time in the ensuing twelve years has any additional evidence been obtained to support pursuing those charges.”
The letter also addresses the allegations that were made by Collings in his post-conviction actions to halt his execution, where he said Spears was complicit in the murder. “The trial court, the Missouri Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court and the Governor all rejected those allegations and carried out the State execution of Mr. Callings, All courts determined that it was Callings, and Callings alone, who committed these crimes.”