In a 6-1 decision announced Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court has sent back, or remanded, the case of Shawn W. Yount of Advance, Missouri, for resentencing, agreeing with Yount a lower court "plainly erred" in allowing him to be designated "a dangerous offender."
The Stoddard County man was found guilty March 17, 2020, on four counts of second-degree burglary and Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis handed down a cumulative 30-year sentence, enhanced by Yount's designation.
According to information by the Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Yount, now 51, burglarized a Farm Bureau office in Marble Hill, New Salem Baptist Church near Patton and the U.S. post office in Leopold in December 2018 and January 2019.
Yount's trial was moved to Cape Girardeau County on a change of venue.
Prior to the jury taking up Yount's case, according to the high court's decision, "the State filed a motion to amend, alleging Yount was a dangerous offender subject to an extended term of imprisonment."
The rationale for the motion was Yount's kidnapping conviction from an unrelated case in 1994.
"The State failed to plead all essential facts and introduce evidence establishing sufficient facts to warrant a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that he was a dangerous offender," stated the ruling.
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