Missouri Pastor Released on $30k Bond After Allegedly Shooting Wife’s Lover Outside Ozark Restaurant
A Baptist pastor in Missouri’s Ozarks was released on a $30,000 bond after serving two years in prison for allegedly shooting his wife’s lover.
On May 28, 2022, Matthew Dedmon, now 49, shot 57-year-old Joe Newburn numerous times in the chest after allegedly spotting him with his wife in a car outside the Iguana Roja Restaurant in the Ozark Courthouse Square Historic District, according to Ozarks First. The site said that Dedmon felt Newburn was having an affair with his wife.
Newburn died the next day at Cox South Hospital, according to a Facebook post from the Ozark Police Department.
The Heritage Baptist Church pastor has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal activity. He had been held in jail without bond for two years.
Judge Laura Johnson stated in September 2022 that releasing Dedmon on bond would put the public in “grave danger.”
“The evidence shows that the defendant had a loaded gun on the square in Ozark, outside a busy restaurant, and the gun was discharged three to four times, killing the victim. “This put everyone on the square in grave danger,” Johnson said in her decision, which Law & Crime obtained. “There was evidence that this conduct was out of character for Defendant, which causes concern about Defendant’s decision-making and judgment.”
“The seriousness of the charge increases the risk that Defendant will not appear,” she said afterward. “For these reasons, the Court will detain Defendant without bond.”
Dedmon’s lawyers and state prosecutors battled over a “motion to endorse” witnesses and discovery for two years. However, on October 1, the judge granted Dedmon a $30,000 bond to wear a GPS monitoring device and remain under house arrest.
According to a defense filing requesting his bond, Dedmon’s attorneys argued that the state’s failure to endorse witnesses violated their client’s constitutional rights in Missouri.
“This lawsuit has been pending for more than two years. Defendant’s counsel has worked hard to get this case ready for trial. Just when Counsel for Defendant thought depositions were over (she had deposed all endorsed witnesses) and the case was finally ready for trial, the State filed its request to endorse, [redacted],” the document stated.
“The defendant strongly opposes this motion to endorse. However, the Defendant contends that if the Court grants the State’s motion to endorse, in whole or in part, the Defendant should be granted release on bond due to the State’s inexcusable act of late endorsements, which, if allowed, will result in an unavoidable lengthy delay in the Defendant’s trial.”
Kristen Tuohy, the prosecuting attorney for Christian County, could not be reached immediately for comment.
As of Wednesday morning, Christian County Jail records did not show that the pastor had been freed. His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. According to his online obituary, the shooting victim, Newburn, was “always the guy next door that everyone wanted to know,” could “build a bike better than Schwinn” and “build a hot rod as if he would someday be in Nascar.” He is survived by two children and a “host of grandkids.”
Dedmon’s murder trial is set to begin on March 3, according to Ozarks First.