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By stan_sipple

The Newton County Circuit Court convicted the Defendant of statutory rape 566.032.1 and sodomy 566.062 after luring a 13 year old girl into his truck to rape her. During closing argument the State argued the defendant was an "animal" who needed to be caged, but these were references to letters the Defendant had written to his wife. Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District affirms conviction, finding no plain error from the prosecutor's comments. State of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Jeffrey D. Jendro, Defendant-Appellant: 28461. "There is no reasonable probability that without the arguments about which defendant complains the verdicts would have been different; that the arguments had no decisive effect on the outcome of the trial. See State v. Pagano, supra, ("Statements made during closing arguments do not amount to plain error unless they are determined to have had a decisive effect on the jury"), citing State v. Davis, 566 S.W.2d 437, 447 (Mo.banc 1978)."

Full post as published by Showmeblawgs on December 30, 2007 (boomark / email).