Criminal Law: Child Molestation-Challenge to Sentence

Staff Report//December 30, 2019//

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Defendant appealed from his convictions for statutory sodomy, child molestation, sexual misconduct involving a child and victim-tampering. On appeal, defendant challenged the trial court’s orders relating to certain evidence pertaining to the victim. Defendant further challenged his sentence for his child-molestation conviction.

Where neither the evidence nor the jury instructions inferred the existence of or allowed the jury to find any of the factual scenarios for a class A felony conviction for child molestation, the trial court erroneously sentenced defendant to a life sentence where defendant could have been convicted for only a class B felony.

Judgment is affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

State v. Thomas (MLW No. 74317/Case No. SD35588 – 11 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Lynch, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Barry County, Goodman, J.