Appeals court orders judge re-sentence man convicted of sexual assault

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A state appellate court upheld a man's conviction Tuesday, but sent his case back to a lower court.

Robert Taylor was sentenced in 2018 to 30 years in prison by Cole County Circuit Court judge Patricia Joyce. A jury found Taylor guilty of three charges for sexually assaulting a child, enticement of a child, second-degree sodomy and second-degree rape.

Court documents say Taylor sexually abused the victim while he was dating the victim's mother.

Joyce sentenced Taylor as a prior and persistent offender. In his appeal, Taylor said Joyce was wrong to sentence him that way because a prior conviction from 2004 was not submitted into evidence and that prior conviction was not certified by a judge.

Appellate court judges accepted Taylor's claim and reversed his sentence. The panel of judges ruled Joyce re-sentence Taylor. According to online court records, a new court hearing has not been scheduled.