After approximately seven hours of deliberation, a Pulaski County jury was unable to reach a verdict in a rape allegation case concerning a former Cabool resident.
The case ended in a hung jury after jurors announced that they were deadlocked – 11 not guilty on all charges and only one guilty.
The charges date back to allegations made on Dec. 28, 2021. On that day, the Cabool Police Department was dispatched to the report of a sexual assault in Cabool. The officer reported making contact with a woman who claimed Ronald Stevens came into her house without her knowledge and that there was non-consensual sexual contact. When Stevens was interviewed, he told officers that the parties had engaged in a consensual sexual act.
On Aug. 3, 2023, the trial commenced and a jury was selected in Pulaski County. The jury heard opening statements and from the state’s six witnesses. The jury heard from three defense witnesses, who testified about a flirtatious relationship between the parties, which the woman denied. After deliberating for approximately seven hours, and with a deadlocked jury, Presiding Circuit Judge William E. Hickle declared a mistrial.
Ronald Stevens was represented at trial by Lacon Marie Smith, a criminal defense attorney at Smith Criminal Defense in Springfield. The State of Missouri was represented by Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Parke Stevens and Assistant Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Martin Fisher.
A new jury trial date has not been scheduled.