House Speaker Jon Patterson (R-Lee’s Summit) and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dirk Deaton (R-Seneca) discussed the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget and other work from the penultimate week of session.
Tag: Dirk Deaton
VIDEO: House Republicans weekly media conference 04-03-2025
Missouri House Republicans spoke about advancing the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2026 to the Senate.
VIDEO: House Members Threaten Budget of State Public Defender over Hiring of Man Convicted in Relation to Stepdaughter’s Murder
Some members of the House Budget Committee said on Thursday they would vote down the entire state Public Defenders Office budget requests if that agency continues to employ a man convicted of two felonies in relation to the murder of his 9-year-old stepdaughter.
“How can anybody say that employing this man and providing him with a good future in some fashion furthers the interest of justice for Rowan Ford, a 9-year-old child who died violently while her stepdad stood back and kept his mouth shut? How does that further the interest of justice for that child?” asked Representative Lane Roberts (R-Joplin), the House’s Assistant Majority Floor Leader, who was sitting with the committee as an ex-officio member.
The man to which he referred is David Spears, who in 2012 pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and hindering prosecution in the 2007 murder of his stepdaughter, 9-year-old Rowan Ford, in the southwest Missouri village of Stella. He at one time confessed to raping and murdering Ford along with another man and to helping hide her body, but evidence and the other man’s confession contradicted his description of events, and defense attorneys contested the confession as allegedly having been coerced. Prosecutors later withdrew their original charges against him, and he accepted a plea agreement on the lesser charges.
That other man, Christopher Collings, was executed by lethal injection in December at the state prison near Bonne Terre.
Spears was released from prison in 2015 and in 2016 was hired by the Public Defender’s office. After a period during which he was not employed by the public defenders, he was rehired in 2020 and continues to work out of its West Plains bureau.
“He’s got a paycheck, he’s got benefits, and he’s got a future, which Rowan Ford does not because she’s dead, and the idea that he is being paid for at public expense; tax dollars paid for by Rowan Ford’s mother, Rowan Ford’s extended family, Rowan Ford’s classmates, Rowan Ford’s teachers, and the police officers who had to investigate that horrible crime are all paying David Spears’ salary.”
Rep. Lane Roberts
The Secretary of State’s Accountability Portal website shows David Spears is a secretary employed by the judiciary (the Office of Public Defender is an independent department of the judiciary), and that last year he made $40,842.00.
Shortly after the Public Defenders’ Director, Mary Fox, began her presentation to the committee for her agency’s budget requests, she was met with outrage from committee members over Spears’ employment.
Chairman Dirk Deaton (R-Seneca) read a summary of the case and then asked Fox, “So in the opinion of, and perhaps yourself, but certainly the human resources manager, the general counsel, the division director, the immediate public defender hiring authority, and the deputy director, it was their belief that these offenses – felony child endangerment leading to the death of a 9 year-old girl, obstruction of justice, hindering of prosecution – wouldn’t impact the individual’s ability to represent the agency effectively?”
Fox responded to that question by saying that she cannot discuss a personnel matter in a public hearing, but as the hearing continued, she defended Spears’ hiring, saying that the agency and Missouri believe that “people with criminal convictions should be able to be employed, even by the state.” She said there was doubt as to what Spears’ role in the crimes against Rowan Ford was and said he has performed well in his job.
As the exchange progressed, Deaton told Fox, “I believe people deserve second chances and … people deserve to live their lives and go on. Not everybody deserves to work for state government. That would be my firm belief and position. Nobody’s owed a taxpayer job and a salary, and this is just one of the worst lapses in judgement I have ever seen.”
Deaton told her, “Well, Miss Ford certainly deserved to live, and she didn’t get that opportunity.”
Deaton then gave the floor to Representative Roberts, who was the Chief of the Joplin Police Department when Rowan Ford was murdered and during the subsequent investigation.
“We as an agency, and I think that Missouri as a state, believe that people with criminal convictions should be able to be employed, even by the state.”
Missouri State Public Defender Director Mary Fox
Roberts began by stating his respect for Fox and the work done by her and those in her agency. He then recounted a letter to the Commissioners of the State Public Defender that he penned in December which was also signed by fifteen additional current and former state representatives, including Deaton.
See Rep. Roberts letter to the Missouri State Public Defender here, and click here to see the Missouri State Public Defender Commission’s letter in reply.
Regarding Spears’ employment, Roberts wrote in that letter, “There is no defending this situation. It is wrong by any standard and we are unwilling to accept it.”
Since that letter was sent the Commission did alter hiring practices, and Fox confirmed that the changes are in “direct response” to the letter.
Under the changes, potential new hires will now be subject to investigation for potential conflicts of interest. Roberts and others say there was a conflict of interest in Spears’ hiring, particularly in that he was hired while his one-time co-defendant Christopher Collings was being represented by public defenders.
The other change is that when a background check reveals what Fox called a “bad report,” the Director and the Chair of the Commission must be consulted. Previously, such notification extended only as far as the office’s deputy director.
As to the legislators’ request that Spears employment be terminated, Commission Chair Charles Atwell issued on January 16 a letter to Roberts stating that after a review of Spears’ case and of Missouri statutes governing the office of public defender, “we believe that the authority to terminate employment of a clerical employee is not an express power granted to the Public Defender Commission.”
As the exchange continued, Fox and Roberts disagreed over the circumstances of Spears’ actions in relation to the murder of Rowan Ford. Specifically, Fox contested Roberts’ statement that Spears led authorities to the little girl’s body.
“This is the most ridiculous presentation we’ve heard. It’s embarrassing.”
Rep. Jeff Vernetti
“There’s a lot of details in a case … if you look at the evidence that was presented at the one case that went to trial, the evidence was that they went through the entire area. Some of the places they went, they went with Mr. Spears, but they did not find the body when they were with him. They did go back to many of those areas and one of those areas that they went back to, they did, eventually, find the body. But I would disagree with you, and I think the prosecutor in the case would disagree with you that Mr. Spears took them to the body,” said Fox. “I know that you were involved in law enforcement in the area at the time and were talking with the folks from McDonald and Barry [counties], but I think there was disagreement even among the police officers from Barry County and the police officers from McDonald County. One group felt Mr. Spears was responsible, the other group felt that he was not.”
Roberts told Fox that his concern has nothing to do with the quality of Spears’ work, but that he is employed by the state at all. After their exchange, other members of the committee echoed that sentiment.
Most passionate was Representative Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson).
“I’m a no on this entire [budget request] book.”
Rep. Raychel Proudie
“I’m shaking, like I’m physically ill, so I’m going to leave after I say this. Let me just say I’m a ‘no’ on this entire book,” Proudie said, referring to the entire budget request from the Office of Public Defender. “With good conscience spirit I can’t go back to District 73 and tell these people that it is okay for us to use their money to pay someone who was complicit and willful even if it wasn’t for the murder, this man stood there with that woman while she was looking for her child.”
Echoing Deaton’s comments about whether Spears’ employment reflects badly on the office, Proudie said, “it does, because I’m going to walk out of here, and when it comes up, if that man is still employed, if I’m elected to something else [in the General Assembly], it will be a ‘no’ on this budget for the entirety of time that the Good Lord sees for me to serve in the legislature, and I mean it. So, if you don’t think it damaged your reputation, it absolutely did. I can’t believe that that was the response that you… I would have rather you sat there and said nothing.”
As to the office’s budget request, Roberts told Fox, “I am angry enough that I am going to ask the chair to consider an amendment during markup. I know you have [a new request to the budget committee] for some additional people. If this is going to be your hiring practices, then I would suggest that we deny that until such time as your policies allow the Commission to weigh in on these decisions and they have the majority vote.”
After her statement, Proudie did something she said she has never done in her seven years as a state representative, no matter how controversial or objectionable she found a subject: she walked out on the hearing. Outside the hearing room, representatives not on the budget committee later commended her for saying what they were thinking as they watched the hearing.
Her departure was soon followed by that of first year legislator, Representative Jeff Vernetti (R-Camdenton), who said, “This is the most ridiculous presentation we’ve heard. It’s embarrassing.”
“As a member of 163 [members of the House], subcommittee that controls [the budget of the Office of the Public Defender], member of budget, I’m a ‘no.’ I’m not even interested in hearing it until this is addressed,” Vernetti said before he, too, walked out of the hearing.
“I just plain don’t care. I don’t care about the reputation of the Public Defenders. I don’t care that he’s doing a good job. He has not, and never will, pay his debt to Rowan Ford.”
Rep. Lane Roberts
Following those remarks, Deaton told Fox she could continue with her presentation, but she asked if it should be continued at another time.
“I don’t want you to just say, ‘No, I won’t consider your budget.’ That’s not fair,” Fox told the committee. “I know you’re angry and I appreciate why you’re angry, and I just want you to think about the fact we experience this anger 80,000 times a year in our jobs, and we have people who do this really hard work, and they deserve your attention. They deserve for you to hear who we are – all of us, not just one person – who we are and what we do, and why it’s so important.”
Roberts and Deaton agreed it would be better to continue the office’s presentation at another time. With the committee’s schedule for next week already set, Deaton asserted that it would likely be two weeks before it could happen.
Deaton cautioned, “If we’re at the same place, say it’s in two weeks, I think we’re probably going to be right back where we are.”
Fox thanked the committee for listening to her, as well as to Deaton and Roberts, and agreed to come back at another time.
House budget plan keeps Rock Island Trail development funds
The state House has voted to preserve more than $69-million in federal dollars to support development of another hiking and biking trail on a former railway. That funding survived two attempts to redirect it over concerns some House members have about its use.
Governor Mike Parson (R) recommended that appropriation, which would use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). It would pay to revitalize a 78-mile stretch of the former Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad corridor, commonly referred to now as the “Rock Island Trail.” Work would include the stabilization of tunnels and bridges.
Bunceton representative Tim Taylor (R) said his family owns property along the Katy Trail, Missouri’s other hiking and biking trail along a former railway. He said he’s seen how communities have benefitted from being along that trail.
“It has brought a sense of small prosperity to our community. When the railroad left, as it did on the Rock Island, much of the town ceased to exist. We have prospered and those towns and cities along the Rock Island are going to prosper just like the Katy Trail.”
The Rock Island corridor runs through Bland, hometown of Representative Bruce Sassman (R). He said hiking and biking trails are engines for economic development, and this is Missouri’s chance to expand them.
“I have been working on this Rock Island development project for 35 years, almost half of my life, and it’s a vision to create a trail system and a trail route that is unlike anything in the country and maybe in the world. I wish you could see this project through my eyes. I wish you knew the history of this project,” said Sassman.
Taylor and Sassman were among those who spoke against amendments that would have blocked that $69-million from going to the trail. One of those, offered by Chillicothe Republican Rusty Black, would have diverted that money to maintenance that has been deferred on other Department of Natural Resources’ properties.
“In my eight years up here, every year we have had this fight with DNR about maintaining what we already have. This is a one-time use of funds that, if we spend it on the trail, is going to further dilute the sales tax money that they get to use to maintain all of the other parks in the state,” said Steelville Republican Jason Chipman. “What we have already is in bad shape and we could put a big dent in the maintenance needed for all of the other parks that bring in a whole lot of people to Missouri rather than partially work on this one.”
“I think there’s arguments to be made for and against the Rock Island Trail,” said Representative Dirk Deaton (R-Noel), the House Budget Committee’s vice-chairman. “I think it’s compelling to me as a conservative, as a fiscal conservative, you’ve got to take care of what you’ve got before you start taking on new things – building new things, acquiring new things, setting up new things, and we do have a substantial maintenance backlog within our state parks and so I think we really ought to address that before we do this, and then you can get to the question of, ‘If we do this.’”
Another amendment was offered by Shell Knob Republican Scott Cupps. It proposed that the money be withheld from the project until lawsuits involving property owners along the Rock Island route are settled.
“The rationale for that is there is concern that we will spend millions and millions of dollars on this project and, depending on what happens in federal court, we may not be able to complete it until this is resolved,” said Cupps. “If you stand up for land owners’ rights and property owners’ rights … then you sure as heck better be a ‘yes’ on this.”
Cupps noted that there were similar legal disputes for people who owned property along the Katy Trail, which he says weren’t settled until 11 years after that trail opened.
Lawmakers who want work on the trail to proceed argued that those lawsuits’ outcomes will have nothing to do with Rock Island’s development.
“This is not about converting it back to ownership by these folks who are suing. They simply seek to reclaim the money for land that was never part of their farm in the first place, whenever they purchased it,” said Representative Don Mayhew (R-Crocker). “These lawsuits, this is a red herring. It has nothing to do with it. The state can proceed with this.”
In the end the House voted down those amendments 53-81 and 62-70, respectively, and then voted to keep the money for the trail project in the budget.
Some, like Representative Jim Murphy (R-St. Louis), were glad to move forward that spending proposal.
“When I leave here I think it’d be nice if I could look at one thing and say, ‘We did this for the future. We did this for this state. It’s long lasting. We didn’t spend it on frivolous things. We didn’t buy shiny objects. We built something that our citizens can use now and in the future,” said Murphy.
The House voted today to advance that spending plan to the Senate.
House plan would ease late payment penalties, interest, in response to surprise tax bills
The House has given preliminary approval to giving Missourians a break on late payment of taxes, because many Missourians might have been surprised this year with a higher-than-anticipated tax debt.
“I’m also frustrated with the situation that brought us here, but today we can’t do anything about that,” said La Monte representative Dean Dohrman (R), the sponsor of House Bill 1094. “But today, as Winston Churchill once said, ‘We can do the best we can with what we got.’”
HB 1094 would block late payment penalties on tax debt owed to the state by individual taxpayers through the end of this year. It would also waive any interest owed on such debt until May 15. For those who might pay penalties before the bill would become law, it would require that those Missourians receive refunds.
The bill is a bipartisan response to an issue with the Department of Revenue’s tax tables that resulted in many Missourians being faced with greater debt than expected. Lawmakers heard stories of individuals who anticipated a tax refund from the state instead getting hit with bills for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.
Representative Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) is the vice-chairman of the House oversight committee that’s been investigating that situation. He said the Department’s explanations have changed, and he blames its former director, who resigned last month amid the crisis.
That oversight committee has continued to schedule hearings to investigate what caused the problems and how the Department responded.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) also sits on that oversight committee, and pre-filed similar legislation in December. She said the Department knew about the tax issue as early as September yet didn’t act for months to notify taxpayers. She said she’s frustrated the House is only now taking action.
Lawmakers including Columbia Democrat Kip Kendrick, another oversight committee member, want Missourians to understand that their issues with tax debt might not be over after this year.
Republicans, including Noel representative and oversight committee member Dirk Deaton, maintain that while some Missourians could see greater tax bills this year, changes in the federal tax code mean their overall debt is down.
“Missourians are keeping more money in their pockets, so we’ve got to fix this withholding thing but at the end of the day Missourians, as they should, are keeping more of their hard-earned money,” said Deaton. “That’s what I think people need to realize.”
Another favorable vote would send HB 1094 to the Senate.