Missouri public defender fires convicted felon to move budget forward

The Missouri state public defender's budget is set to move forward after the office fired a convicted felon.

State lawmakers had threatened to hold up the office's budget unless administrative assistant David Spears was terminated. Spears pleaded guilty in 2012 to endangering the welfare of a child and hindering prosecution in the 2007 case involving the murder of his stepdaughter, Rowan Ford.

“I’m satisfied they’ve done what we asked," said state Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, who led the charge to have Spears removed. “This is about a little girl."

Read more from the Missouri Independent.