Criminal Law-Statutory Rape-Sufficiency of Evidence

Staff Report//February 11, 2026//

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Defendant appealed his conviction for statutory rape and statutory sodomy, arguing that the trial court erred in failing to sua sponte exclude testimony from an expert witness and in denying defendant’s motion for acquittal, as defendant contended that there was insufficient evidence to support his statutory sodomy conviction.

Where the expert merely testified that the victim’s condition was consistent with sexual abuse, there was no error in not excluding the testimony, and the evidence was sufficient to support defendant’s conviction where the victim testified that her memory of the assault was much clearer at the time of her forensic interview than it was at trial.

Judgment is affirmed.

State v. Pace (MLW No. 84343/Case No. SD38716 – 12 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Hamner, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Scott County, Pearson, J. (Justine R. Finney, Columbia and Theodore Eric Liszewski, Sikeston for appellant) (Garrick F.D. Aplin, Jefferson City and Donald Ray Cobb, Benton for respondent)