{"disclaimer":"This is a summary of public court records and is not legal advice. Missouri slip opinions may be modified or withdrawn; consult the official source.","party":{"slug":"gary-d-morton","displayName":"GARY D. MORTON","totalCases":1},"cases":[{"caseId":"moappsd:sd35487:2019-05-10","opinionId":"e22d0fd9-1eaa-56a2-93f2-9c3450ccc5ce","slug":"state-of-missouri-respondent-v-gary-d-morton-appellant-d35487","caseName":"STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent\nvs.\nGARY D. MORTON, Appellant","caseNumber":"SD35487","court":"moappsd","courtLabel":"Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District","decisionDate":"2019-05-10","year":2019,"display_summary":"Gary D. Morton was convicted of class A felony child molestation after a bench trial. On appeal, Morton argued the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal because there was insufficient evidence that the offense was committed as part of a \"ritual or ceremony,\" as the statutory definition requires \"two or more persons\" and only he committed the acts. The appellate court agreed, holding that a victim does not \"perform\" their own victimization and thus does not count toward the \"two or more persons\" requirement. The court reversed Morton's class A felony conviction and remanded the case with directions to enter a conviction for the lesser-included class B felony of child molestation and to resentence accordingly.","primaryTopic":"criminal-procedure","topicSlugs":["criminal-procedure","other","appellate-procedure","evidence"],"outcomeNorm":"reversed","officialSourceUrl":"https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=140204","detailUrl":"https://ott.law/missouri-courts/opinions/state-of-missouri-respondent-v-gary-d-morton-appellant-d35487","relatedPracticeAreas":[{"slug":"criminal-law","label":"Criminal Law","href":"/practice-areas/criminal-law","score":40,"source":"tag","evidence":["tag: criminal-law","topic: criminal-procedure","text: state of missouri","text: felony"],"url":"https://ott.law/practice-areas/criminal-law"},{"slug":"litigation","label":"Civil Litigation","href":"/practice-areas/litigation","score":12,"source":"topic","evidence":["topic: evidence","topic: appellate-procedure"],"url":"https://ott.law/practice-areas/litigation"}],"role":"appellant"}]}