Revelations about former city cop could free Kurtis Watkins

A St. Louis man sentenced to 25 years in prison based solely on the testimony of one police officer is asking a federal court to vacate his conviction.

Kurtis Watkins, 35, was found guilty on nine felony counts related to a 2013 shooting in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St. Louis.

Watkins denies any involvement, and the only evidence tying him to the crime was an eyewitness account from a police officer named Steven Pinkerton.

During jury selection, Pinkerton told lawyers he didn’t think he’d be able to follow the law as instructed by the judge…Pinkerton’s comments regarding what he and [Former St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex] Burlison agreed could be seen as “selective enforcement of the law” by an officer prompted Burlison to say, according to the transcript: “Officer, you and I don’t know each other, but I’m embarrassed for you and the St. Louis department.”

Watkins’ attorney filed a petition Monday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri arguing the conviction violates federal law after new evidence about Pinkerton’s past came to light in December 2024 following a months-long investigation by the Missouri Independent. 

The Independent found that Pinkerton had a history of racist social media posts denigrating Black people. And less than a year prior to Watkins’ arrest, Pinkerton placed a banned chokehold on a Black man he mistakenly believed was the suspect in an earlier robbery.

The man died at the scene. 

Neither the social media posts nor the mistaken identification was disclosed to Watkins’ attorneys or the jury at trial, something Watkins’ attorney says would have undermined Pinkerton’s credibility as a witness.

“A reasonable fact finder would have acquitted Mr. Watkins of all charges,” Jonathan Sternberg, Watkins’ attorney, wrote in the petition.

The petition asks for the court to hold an evidentiary hearing, issue a writ of habeas corpus and vacate the conviction on two grounds.

First, it argues Watkins’ attorney at the original trial was constitutionally ineffective because he failed to call the friend Watkins was with that night to testify. Second, it argues the state violated rules of evidence disclosure in failing to turn over credibility evidence about Pinkerton’s past.

The petition also includes a new piece of information about Pinkerton provided to Watkins’ attorney by a retired judge.

Former St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison reached out to Sternberg after The Independent’s investigation was published, according to the petition. Burlison relayed an account of Pinkerton’s behavior in his courtroom when Pinkerton was being considered for a jury in 2017. Burlison provided a transcript of the interaction.

During jury selection, Pinkerton told lawyers he didn’t think he’d be able to follow the law as instructed by the judge.

Burlison then took what the petition calls the “extraordinary step” of calling Pinkerton into the chambers to discuss those statements. Pinkerton’s comments regarding what he and Burlison agreed could be seen as “selective enforcement of the law” by an officer prompted Burlison to say, according to the transcript: “Officer, you and I don’t know each other, but I’m embarrassed for you and the St. Louis department.”

The incident occurred after Watkins’ trial, so it wouldn’t be considered evidence the state failed to turn over. But Sternberg argues it “shows Officer Pinkerton’s bias is not limited to a few statements on social media, nor isolated to his personal life.”

Neither Burlison nor Pinkerton responded to requests for comment.

Pinkerton left the St. Louis Metro Police in 2021 and is now an officer at the Moscow Mills Police Department, which also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The habeas case was assigned to a magistrate judge, Rodney Holmes. Both Watkins and the state need to consent to the judge and if not, the case will be reassigned to one of the federal district judges. Sternberg said they’re consenting to the judge, and the attorney general’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Holmes is a former federal public defender and assistant U.S. attorney.

The judge will then set a deadline for the attorney general’s office to file a response to the habeas petition — usually with a 30-day deadline. Sternberg will then reply to that, and the judge will decide the case.

This story originally appeared here.