State v. Liberty
Annotate this CaseDavid Liberty was convicted of one felony count of first-degree promoting child pornography and eight felony counts of first-degree possession of child pornography. Liberty alleged that the evidence the State presented to insufficient to convict him of the charges. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed Liberty's conviction for promoting child pornography and one of his convictions for possession of child pornography, as the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict; but (2) reversed the remaining convictions for possession of child pornography, holding that the imposition of eight separate sentences for one instance of possession violated Liberty's constitutional protections against double jeopardy, as Mo. Rev. Stat. 573.037 did not ambiguously permit separate prosecutions for each image a defendant simultaneously possessed. This holding, however, did not preclude the State from retrying Liberty on the reversed charges, as double jeopardy principles did not bar Liberty's retrial. Remanded.
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