Missouri Supreme Court Denies Death Row Inmate’s Appeal

Missouri Supreme Court judges have denied a death row inmate’s appeal.

David Hosier was sentenced to death for killing Angela Gilpin in 2009. The 64-year-old had a relationship with Gilpin while she was separated from her husband, who also was shot to death in her Jefferson City apartment.

Hosier claims that his trial attorney did a poor job. He also says that the trial judge had a conflict of interest.

Supreme Court judges disagreed. They wrote in a Tuesday ruling that Hosier’s trial attorney made reasonable decisions.

Judges also disputed that Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce was biased. Hosier claimed she should have recused herself because she prosecuted a case to get back child support that an ex-husband owed Gilpin decades earlier.

Supreme Court judges wrote that no reasonable person would see even an appearance of impropriety in the trial judge later presiding over Hosier’s case.

A public defender for Hosier did not immediately return an Associated Press request for comment Tuesday.