The 25-year sentence of a man involved in a 2009 murder will stand after a local judge denied his latest attempt at appeal.

David R. Johnson, 26, of St. Louis, was convicted in 2016 as the third suspect in a fatal stabbing in Wright City that happened in 2009. 

Johnson, who was 15 when the killing occurred, was tried as an adult and convicted of murder, burglary and armed criminal action, as well as assault relating to the injury of a second person.

Two other men were also convicted for the attack, which happened at a New Year’s party at a residence in the 13000 block of Bobwhite Lane.

Since his conviction, Johnson has pursued multiple avenues of appeal. In the most recent, Johnson petitioned the 12th Circuit Court to vacate his sentence based on several complaints, including against the judge and Johnson’s trial attorneys.

In his petition to the court, Johnson argued that former Presiding Judge Keith Sutherland was unfairly biased when it came time to sentence Johnson, and that Sutherland should have recused himself. Sutherland had previously rejected a plea agreement between Johnson and the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, which would have gotten Johnson 10 years in prison.

Johnson argued that Sutherland had shown he was unwilling to consider the full range of penalties for a conviction, and should therefore have removed himself from the trial and sentencing in favor of an unbiased judge.

Johnson also sought relief on the grounds that his trial attorneys provided inneffective counsel. He criticized several decisions made by the attorneys, including failure to object to a piece of evidence ­— a recording from the Warren County Jail ­ — that was introduced just days before trial. In the recording, Johnson appears to admit involvement in the crime.

To make his case, Johnson cited another appeal from Warren County, in which the Missouri Supreme Court in 2019 said the prosecutor’s office had violated court rules by revealing a jail recording a few days before trial. Johnson said his lawyers’ failure to object to a similar late disclosure constituted inneffective counsel.

Judge Sutherland, now a senior judge in the 12th Circuit, heard the appeal and denied Johnson’s request to vacate his sentence.

In his decision, Sutherland wrote that a judge has complete discretion to accept or reject plea agreements. Rejecting a plea agreement, he wrote, does not create a requirement that the judge recuse himself.

On the subject of the jail recording, Sutherland judged that Johnson’s attorney was able to sufficiently review and investigate the evidence, and therefore was adequately prepared for trial.

In response to Johnson’s various other complaints against his attorneys, Sutherland wrote that their decisions at trial were based on sound legal strategy. They therefore aren’t cause to overturn the sentence.