An April 4th sentencing date has been set for the former Missouri state trooper who was convicted Friday afternoon of felony sexual abuse and misdemeanor kidnapping for a 2023 Columbia incident at a hotel.
He will not face prison time. The jury deliberated for about three hours on Friday before returning those verdicts. 939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse for Friday’s closing arguments, verdicts and penalty phase for 32-year-old Jeffery Durbin, who is from Madison. That is east of Moberly.
Prosecutors say the 2023 incident happened at Columbia’s Hampton Inn and Suites near Faurot Field, during a law enforcement training session. Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum questioned the woman’s credibility, saying she had 11 or 12 beers that night and couldn’t remember some details of what she told authorities two years ago. One of those details was how many beers the woman had. But Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins told the jury that Durbin put his hand in the woman’s pants that night and that he pinned her against a wall. The woman is a police officer in the St. Louis region. The two had dinner with several other officers at Stadium Grill that night, before going to Durbin’s hotel room to study material for the law enforcement training session. One other officer joined them to study before leaving the room, according to testimony at trial.
The jury is recommending no prison time and a possible fine for the sexual abuse conviction, and they’re requesting up to three months in the county jail and a possible fine for misdemeanor kidnapping. Boone County Circuit Judge Joshua Calvin Devine has scheduled an April 4 sentencing date. Under Missouri state law, Judge Devine cannot go higher than the jury’s recommendation, but he can go lower if he chooses to do so. That means the most time Durbin will serve is 90 days in jail, if he gets any jail time.
Counselor Rosenblum is filing a motion for a new trial. Both sides testified during the penalty phase. The St. Louis police officer says she has suffered trauma and has relied on God to get her through this. She quoted Proverbs as she sobbed. Counselor Rosenblum called Durbin’s wife Whitney to the stand. She sobbed as she told the jury she has forgiven her husband and that he’s a great father to their three-year-old. She also sobbed trying to discuss what could happen if her husband, a former law enforcement officer, ended up in state prison.
