Republic resident McConnell to get new trial on rape, sodomy charges

In November of 2019, former Brookline Fire Chief Larry McConnell was convicted of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of second-degree rape. The following January, he was sentenced to three concurrent five-year prison terms on the sodomy charges and a consecutive five-year sentence for the rape charge. Earlier this year, those charges were vacated on appeal, and he will be given a new trial.
Appeals court state medical records contradict victim’s testimony
In a judgement dated Feb. 23 of this year, McConnell’s conviction was vacated by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District.
In their ruling, the court noted that the victim testified that the abuse happened on Wednesday nights when McConnell’s wife was at church. However, they also said that medical records showed that McConnell’s wife could not have been at church when the abuse occurred.
“Wife’s medical records … strongly indicate she could not leave Victim and McConnell alone on those Wednesday nights after Christmas, as Victim alleged,” the court wrote in their ruling. “Wife had one leg in an immobilizer and another in a splint, and the medical records further state Wife was largely immobile until February of 2016. The church attendance records also confirm Wife was absent each Wednesday from January of 2016 and through March 2, 2016, contrary to Victim’s testimony that the specified incidents in January and February of 2016 occurred on Wednesday nights when Wife was at church. Wife’s medical records and church attendance records thus refute Victim’s testimony to the extent she described the sexual abuse related to the three counts of sodomy in the second degree as occurring on Wednesday nights in January and February of 2016 when Wife was at church. Both sets of records would have therefore provided McConnell with a viable defense to the three charges of sodomy in the second degree in Counts I, II, and III by showing Victim was not under 17 years of age when McConnell started any sexual abuse.”
Court ruled McConnell received ineffective counsel
The Court also stated in their ruling that both of McConnell’s attorneys should have sought the wife’s medical records for his defense.
“The decision of McConnell’s trial counsel to not investigate was unreasonable given their knowledge of Wife’s medical records and church attendance records,” they wrote. “McConnell’s trial counsel had ‘numerous” discussions regarding Wife’s medical condition, understood Wednesdays to be “significant because that was church night[,]’ and knew ‘the issue’ for their case was Victim’s age when the abuse started.”
Because they didn’t use the wife’s medical records, the court stated, McConnell’s attorneys didn’t provide him with effective counsel.
Appeals Court vacated McConnell’s conviction, ordered new trial
In their ruling, the Court of Appeals overturned McConnell’s conviction.
“The motion court’s findings that McConnell’s trial counsel did not provide effective assistance of counsel and that no prejudice resulted are clearly erroneous. The order denying McConnell’s Rule 29.15 motion for postconviction relief is reversed; McConnell’s conviction and sentence … are vacated, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.”
McConnell currently free pending new trial
The Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Jacqueline Ledezma refiled charges of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of second-degree rape against McConnell around June 12, according to online court records. Online court records also showed that McConnell was released on a $50,000 bond around June 17. He filed a motion to have his 8 p.m. curfew removed from his bond conditions to allow him to work; that motion was granted on Oct. 8.
Around Tuesday, Dec. 10, Ledezma filed a motion to rearrest McConnell; online court records showed her motion was overruled at a hearing on Friday, Dec. 13, though McConnell was admonished regarding “his poor judgement.”
McConnell is next scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for a case management conference.