Judge orders new trial in MU student’s 2003 shooting death

A man convicted of the 2003 murder of MU student Charles Blondis should receive a new trial, Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton ruled. But Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Knight said Tuesday that he will appeal the decision to Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals.

“If we are not successful on appeal, the family is going to have to relive this,” Knight said. “I’m going to be ready to try this case again if necessary.”

Hamilton ruled on March 8 that Taron Crawford, 24, of Kansas City, had ineffective assistance of council and that his attorney should have objected to questions the prosecutor asked about witnesses’ credibility.

A jury found Crawford guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in November 2004.

In 2005, Hamilton sentenced Crawford to 25 years in prison in connection with the shooting of Blondis, 20, at a party outside a north Columbia duplex on Riva Ridge Court.

The appellate court affirmed Crawford’s conviction in March 2006.

In deciding in favor of an appeal, Hamilton noted several times that he said Crawford’s lawyer should have objected during the trial. One example is when Knight asked Crawford during the trial if witness Bryan Liebhart had lied.

Knight said Crawford’s attorney objected and the court overruled the objection.

“I certainly believed that I had the green light to continue on with that line of questioning, and I did,” Knight said. “Basically, the argument is now that the defense attorney was ineffective for failing to continue to object.”

Knight said the state Attorney General’s Office agreed to handle the appeal. The appeal can be made up to 30 days after the decision was made to grant a new trial.

Crawford’s trial lawyer, Roderick Smith, was not immediately available for comment.