Appeals court upholds Monroe County murder conviction
MONROE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A state appeals court upheld a murder verdict for a former Missouri prison guard that killed his bride-to-be.
The Western District Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied James Addie's request to overturn his first-degree murder and armed-criminal action convictions. The appeals court said Cole County Judge Jon Beetem properly allowed a state investigator to discuss tire track identification he used to link Addie's vehicle to the murder scene.
A Cole County jury convicted Addie in 2021 for killing his fiancée, Molly Watson. Law enforcement found Watson dead from a gunshot wound in rural Monroe County days before she and Addie were set to be married. Addie was already married at the time, and prosecutors claimed he killed Watson to hide the relationship. The case received national media attention from Court TV and the ABC News program 20/20.
Jason Crafton, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, studied the tire tracks left in the mud around the crime scene and compared them to the treads on Addie's truck.
Addie's appeals lawyer, Ellen Flottman, challenged the reliability of Crafton's work, claiming Crafton leaned on a study over footwear impression matching to bolster the evidence.
At trial, though, Crafton said on the stand that he gave Addie's defense team other studies over tire impression matching.
"Addie’s counsel declined to cross-examine Crafton about the referenced articles," Judge Lisa Hardwick wrote in the appeals court opinion.
Addie brought up several issues he had with his trial lawyer's handling of the case at sentencing. His appeal only challenged the reliability of Crafton's work.
