Lawyers for a former Missouri state trooper convicted in January of felony sexual abuse and misdemeanor kidnapping in Columbia are asking for a new trial, alleging juror misconduct on the part of the jury foreperson.
939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse on Friday, when Judge Joshua Calvin Devine continued the sentencing for 32-year-old Jeffery Durbin due to the new eight-page filing from defense attorney Isaac Dodd III.
Counselor Dodd’s motion says prospective jurors in Durbin’s case were asked numerous questions in January, including whether any of them had any legal experience and if any of them were members of any victim support group. The defense alleges that the woman selected as forewoman failed to disclose a three-year-plus history of clerking at a law firm, and that she also allegedly failed to disclose that she worked for three years at the “Violence Project”, which is aimed at rooting out violence. The court filing also says the juror failed to disclose that she had been awarded a certificate in workforce violence prevention, when she was aware that the trial involved workforce violence.
Judge Devine said in open court Friday that he’s never seen a case like this, and both Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins and Counselor Dodd suggested in open court the case will end up in the Missouri Court of Appeals.
939 the Eagle News was also in Boone County Circuit Court for January’s closing arguments, verdicts and penalty phase for Durbin, who is from mid-Missouri’s Madison. 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 credibility of the alleged victim at trial, saying she had 11 or 12 beers that night and couldn’t remember 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 Perkins told the jury in January 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 jury recommended no prison time and a possible fine for the sexual abuse conviction, and they requested up to three months in the county jail and a possible fine for misdemeanor kidnapping.
