Hearing set as former O'Sullivan official tries to have sex crime conviction tossed

A 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, hearing has been scheduled in McDonald County Circuit Court for former O'Sullivan Industries official Gary Reed Blankenship, 60, in his attempt to have his conviction on sex crimes tossed out...this despite the fact that Blankenship pleaded guilty.

The case, which will be heard in front of Judge Kevin Selby, is being heard in McDonald County on a change of venue from Newton County.

Blankenship, currently a resident of the state prison at Cameron, and formerly a Neosho resident, pleaded guilty to amended charges of possession of child pornography and promoting obscenity Oct. 19, 2006. He had initially been charged with eight counts of possession of child pornography, one count of enticing a child, and one count of promoting obscene material to a minor.

Five months after the guilty plea, Blankenship filed a motion of have the sentence vacated, and a motion to proceed as a pauper, which was granted by Selby, meaning the taxpayers are footing the bill for Blankenship.

Blankenship was arrested Jan. 27, 2005, following one of former Diamond Police Department officer Jim Murray's internet sex stings. Murray entered a chat room pretending to be an underage girl.
At the time of his arrest, Blankenship was a highly paid official with O'Sullivan Industries in Lamar, and reportedly was doing some of his trolling on company computers. His first lawyer was Dee Wampler, Springfield, arguably the best criminal defense lawyer in southwest Missouri.
Probably the best advice Blankenship could have been given was to stay off the computer, but if he was given that advice, he did not follow it. He e-mailed his co-workers at O'Sullivan, claiming to be innocent and asking them to help him by serving as character references.

A portion of the e-mail read:

"I pray that each of you know me well enough to realize that I am not guilty of the charges that have been made. Of the 10 counts made against me, I will officially be arraigned on only one count - the other nine will be dropped.
"Last, I am sending this to each of you requesting your help. Most of you have either been contacted by, or have a message from Betty Jackson, secretary to my lawyer, Dee Wampler. I had to put together a list of character references and I could think of none better than the people I have spent a lot of time with for the past several years.The decision is up to you as to whether you wish to provide any comment regarding my character but I would appreciate your comments.
"I hope things are going well for all of you and the new O'Sullivan is beginning to shape up. I wish all of you health and happiness, and hope to talk with you soon.
"Thanks again for your support."

Apparently, those character references were not forthcoming. The charges Blankenship said would be dropped were never dropped until he entered his guilty plea.