Cape man sentenced to 30 years for molesting child

A Cape Girardeau man was sentenced Monday during a court appearance in Jackson to 30 years in prison for molesting a 9-year-old girl in 2013.

Judge Benjamin Lewis sentenced Kendrick Lamarr Tipler, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh said in a news release.

Tipler, 35, was convicted Oct. 12 of first-degree child molestation after a two-day trial.

At trial, assistant prosecuting attorney Julia Koester presented the testimony of the victim, now 13, who described the sexual abuse.

Limbaugh said after the trial the case was the first time locally evidence of a past conviction had been heard by a jury in a sexual-abuse case.

“Cases of this kind are often very difficult to prosecute due to the fact that, often times, it is simply the word of the victim versus the word of an adult,” Limbaugh said in an October news release.

To aid prosecution of such cases, Missourians voted to amend the state Constitution in 2014 to allow evidence of a defendant’s previous acts of sexual abuse with other victims.

The jury heard testimony Tipler previously pleaded guilty in 2006 in Stoddard County Circuit Court to the felony offense of endangering the welfare of a child, Limbaugh said.

The Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling in February that allowed Tipler’s previous conviction to be mentioned in court.

Tipler’s attorney had argued the constitutional amendment should not have applied retroactively to the time of the offense. But the high court ruled the amendment applies to all trials occurring on or after Dec. 4, 2014.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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