Month: July 2021

A man who had been facing two charges related to the stabbing of a teenage girl in Nixa is now facing multiple charges.

Joe Allan Dutton, 41, had been facing two counts of third-degree assault from the incident last weekend. Prosecutors announced Thursday additional charges: felony resisting arrest, armed criminal action, first-degree assault, and three additional counts of third-degree assault.

Court documents state that prosecutors believe Dutton pulled the victim of Saturday’s stabbing from a vehicle, and then while a fight took place between the victim and another juvenile girl, Dutton held a gun on witnesses.

Witnesses say that Dutton struck someone with the gun, and got into a fight with another man.

If convicted on the first-degree assault charge, Dutton could face life in prison.

The victim has been released from an area hospital but she and her family have not been able to return home because someone shot at the house.

The girl accused in the stabbing is undergoing a court-ordered mental health evaluation.

A Tipton, Missouri man has been found guilty at trial in the rape and sodomy of a six-year-old.

A Greene County jury found Shawn Kelly Martin, 42, guilty on all charges related to the rape of a six-year-old child. The jury deliberated for three hours before returning guilty verdicts on one county of statutory rape in the first degree and four counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree.

Martin told investigators that he would be able to get away with the repeated sexual abuse of the child because the child’s step-father was also sexually abusing her.

Martin was a prior sex offender after a 2003 conviction in Stone County for statutory sodomy in the second degree.

Martin will be sentenced by Judge David Jones in September. Martin could be sentenced up to 30 years on the charges or he could receive a life sentence. Under Missouri law, the sentences cannot run concurrently, meaning that Martin will likely spend the rest of his life in prison even if not formally sentenced to a life term.

“Successful prosecution of both sexual and physical child abuse requires citizens to report any suspected child abuse,” Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson said in a statement. “Reporting child abuse is everyone’s responsibility. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, please call the Missouri Child Abuse & Neglect Hotline at 1-800-392-3738.”