Criminal Law: Statutory Sodomy-Jury Instructions

Defendant appealed from his conviction on four counts of statutory sodomy involving two victims. On appeal, defendant challenged the exclusion of a DSS employee’s testimony from evidence and also challenged the jury instructions on the verdict director for two of his counts.

Where the record indicated that trial counsel made a strategic decision not to challenge the jury instructions, the trial court did not commit plain error in addressing the issue sua sponte.

Judgment is affirmed.

State v. Snyder (MLW No. 74176/Case No. SD35615 – 9 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Lynch, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Phelps County, Beger, J.