(Jefferson City, MO) – After pressure from several lawmakers, Missouri Public Defender System Director Mary Fox has fired a worker for his role in the 2007 murder and rape of his nine-year-old stepdaughter.
Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, confirmed to Missourinet the firing of David Spears from the system that provides legal defense to poor people.
Spears’s friend, Christopher Collings, was executed last December for the rape and murder of Rowan Ford of southwest Missouri’s Stella.
Spears took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to reduced charges in 2012 for his role in the crimes.
After Spears was released from prison, he began working for the Missouri Public Defender System’s West Plains office in 2016.
Roberts, and a bipartisan list of other state lawmakers, objected to taxpayers covering Spears’ state salary with benefits. They sent a letter to the Missouri Public Defender System last December, voicing their outrage over the employment of Spears.
Roberts served as Joplin Police Chief and told Missourinet that he had officers who investigated the case.
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