Court upholds conviction of Dora man
Tue, 05/28/2024 - 4:23pm
admin
By:
Nate Hudson, contributing writer
The Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District upheld the conviction of a Dora man who was sentenced to 60 years in prison for sodomy. On May 20, the court upheld the convictions of Jonathan G. Newton, age 40, of Dora, on three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy involving a victim under the age of 12.
The Missouri Attorney General's Office assisted in the case and Attorney General Andrew Bailey commented on the decision by the court. “As Attorney General, I will enforce the laws as written, which includes defending the convictions of heinous criminals,” said Bailey. “As a former prosecutor and as an adoptive parent, I am personally familiar with the need to protect children. My office will continue to do everything in its power to keep Missouri’s most vulnerable safe from harm.”
Newton was initially arrested in March 2020 by the Howell County Sheriff's Office, according to court documents. A warrant for his arrest was issued following a grand jury indictment in February that year. An investigation by the Sheriff's Office into Newton began in September 2017 after an incident raised suspicion in the victim's mother that something had happened.
Newton was convicted in a December 2022 jury trial at the Howell County Courthouse. During the trial, testimony was heard on how he had sexually assaulted his wife's child multiple times. After three days of trial and less than two hours of deliberation, the twelve-member jury found Newton to be guilty on the three felony charges. In January 2023, he was sentenced by the circuit court to 20 years on each of the three counts of statutory sodomy and ordered the sentences to run consecutively.