JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After an explosive back-and-forth at their last hearing with the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office, it was business as usual for the House Budget Committee Wednesday as the MSPD director was able to make her budget pitch to the legislative body, without interruption.

Earlier this month, the same committee threatened to stall the budgetary approval process over the department’s employment of David Spears, a felon convicted in the 2007 rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford, Spears’ stepdaughter.

As of Monday, however, Spears’ employment had been terminated with the state. Members of the committee didn’t mention Spears’ by name at Thursday morning’s budget hearing, but State Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, briefly addressed the issue at the beginning.

Roberts said he appreciated the conversations he has had with Mary Fox, the director of the Missouri State Public Defender’s office, including proposed changes in protocol. He also praised Fox and MSPD for remaining “professional and courteous.”

“I would like … to consider this measure closed,” he said before urging his colleagues to give consideration to the department’s budget.

Asked after the hearing if Spears had been fired, Roberts replied, “yes.”

“This is about a little girl, not about the Legislature,” he said. “I’m satisfied that they’ve done what we asked them to do, and I’ve asked the committee to consider this ‘case closed’ and move on.”

Roberts, who was Joplin’s police chief at the time of Ford’s murder, had previously disagreed with Fox about the level of involvement Spears had in the case and whether Spears had led authorities to the little girl’s body.

Both Spears and his friend Christopher Collings initially confessed to raping and murdering Rowan. Collings was sentenced to death but Spears’ confession was thrown out and he ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges.

Collings was executed in December but Spears continued his taxpayer-funded salary with the public defender’s office.

He was first hired by the MSPD in 2016, about a year after being released from prison for his role in the crimes against Ford.

At a budget hearing nearly two weeks ago, lawmakers unleashed on Mary Fox, she needed to find a way to fire Spears before they would even listen to the agency’s budget proposal.

Fox went through close to an hour of testimony Thursday, but never mentioned Spears to the committee. She also declined to answer any questions about his employment after the hearing.

“It was David Spears, who sat quietly for six days while the mother was searching for her child and he didn’t tell her,” Roberts said previously. “More importantly he’s on the local media playing the part of a father begging people to return his child while her mother is standing right there. This man’s conduct was despicable.”