MINISTER'S CONVICTION OVERTURNED ON REPEAL

The conviction of a former Dunklin County minister for sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in 1992 was a legal mistake, a panel of judges ruled this week.

James Niederstadt of Malden, Mo., will not serve a 25-year prison sentence following the decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District issued Tuesday.

The three-judge panel stated in an opinion that Dunklin County prosecutor Steve Sokoloff did not present sufficient evidence to prove Niederstadt committed forcible sodomy with the girl, who was left in the pastor's custody by her parents.

In an opinion written by presiding Judge John Parrish, the court said Niederstadt's abuse of the girl while she slept did not fit the legal definition of "forcible compulsion."

In Missouri's criminal statutes, the term is defined as "force that overcomes reasonable resistance" or "a threat, express or implied, that places a person in reasonable fear of death, serious physical injury or kidnapping of himself or another person."

Judge Kenneth Shrum wrote in a separate opinion that he supported the court's ruling, but was bothered by the prosecutor's handling of the case.

"Why the prosecutor chose to undertake the burden of proving forcible compulsion -- an impossible task on the evidence here -- defies explanation," Shrum said.

Niederstadt was convicted last year during a bench trial before Scott County Judge David Dolan, who heard the case on a change of venue to Benton, Mo.

Niederstadt, former pastor of Vinson General Baptist Church, assumed custody of the girl in 1991.

She had been left with Niederstadt by her parents, who wanted her to get an education in the United States while they continued in Africa as missionaries.

During last year's trial, the girl recounted instances of beatings and fondling.

Niederstadt had confessed to investigators in more than three and a half hours of tape-recorded interviews that he had fondled the girl one or two times a week over a five-week period around March 1992.

Niederstadt's attorney, Daniel Moore of Poplar Bluff, had maintained throughout hearings that the facts of the case were clear, but his client's case centered on legal definitions.

Sokoloff could not be reached for comment Wednesday. During the trial the prosecutor had said despite the fact that the sexual abuse occurred while the victim was asleep, she had a submissive attitude toward it when she awoke because of prior beatings and a death threat.