Lindsay Michelle Forbes Missouri Cases

Lindsay Michelle Forbes appealed her conviction for financial exploitation of an elderly person. The Missouri Supreme Court, acting sua sponte, determined that Forbes' initial notice of appeal was untimely because it was filed 15 days after the circuit court orally rendered judgment and imposed sentence. The Court further held that the circuit court's subsequent actions to withdraw the original sentence, resentence Forbes, and add restitution were void for lack of jurisdiction. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the case was remanded with directions to vacate the void judgment and enter a written judgment consistent with the original 10-year oral sentence.

Lindsay Michelle Forbes appealed her conviction for the financial exploitation of an elderly person, her father, following a jury trial. She argued that the verdict-directing jury instruction erroneously criminalized a legal act by requiring the jury to find she obtained control of her father's assets by undue influence, despite having been legally appointed conservator by the probate court. The appellate court reversed the judgment, holding that the instruction was prejudicially erroneous because Forbes obtained control of the assets through a legal probate court order, not undue influence, and directed her discharge.