CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Missouri's Eastern District Court of Appeals has decided that Glen Scott Evans has no grounds for appeal of the judgment he received last year.
In March, 2014, a jury convicted Evans of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Sean Crow, whose body was found Feb. 20, 2013, in his truck outside a McDonald's restaurant in Advance, Mo.
Evans was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May, 2014, and almost immediately filed an appeal.
According to Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney, Russ Oliver, the appeal was filed in a way that contested a few points of his case.
Oliver said that Evans questioned the sufficiency of the evidence that was used against him in trial, as well as alleging his arrest was warrantless. Evans also challenged whether or not the statement he provided to police was given voluntarily, due to his intoxication at the time.
Before the trial, Evans' attorney, James McClellan, had sought to suppress incriminating statements his client made to police after his arrest, saying Evans was too intoxicated and sleep-deprived at the time to know what he was doing.
A videotape of those statements was a key piece of evidence during the trial.
"The Eastern District Court of Appeals upheld Evans' conviction, and did so without issuing any public opinion," Oliver explained. "Basically, that means the court didn't find that there were any outstanding issues or precedental value."
Oliver said he was pleased to know the conviction was upheld.
"A lot of work went into that case," Oliver remarked. "I'm pleased that this ruling essentially closes any window for further challenges."
At trial, prosecutors said Evans facilitated Crow's death by driving another Dexter man, 30-year-old Matthew Cook, to Advance for the purpose of killing Crow.
Cook pled guilty to murder in exchange for a life sentence, in December 2014. Prosecutors initially were seeking the death penalty for Cook.
Since being successfully prosecuted and sentenced before Cook, Evans refused to testify against Cook, which prompted the prosecution to allow the plea deal.
According to Oliver, Evans has extremely limited options now, as he could only possibly file a motion alleging improper defense on his behalf.
"He has a 180-day window to file such a motion," Oliver said. "I hadn't heard anything about that yet. I don't know that he's going to do that. There really aren't any other options left for him."