Sedalia man found guilty of child molestation

A Pettis County jury convicted a Sedalia man on three counts of first-degree child molestation Thursday night.

Frederick E. Doty, 71, was found guilty of three charges of child molestation. The jury recommended five-year sentences on each count. The range of punishment for the class B felony conviction was between five and 15 years imprisonment.

After about six hours of deliberation, the jury returned the guilty verdict at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday. Attorneys from both sides then called witnesses and presented arguments about what punishment to assess.

Doty was convicted of inappropriately touching three girls, all under the age of 10, on several occasions.

Before testimony from the victims' parents and closing arguments on sentencing, Pettis County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Mittelhauser thanked the jury for the guilty verdict.

“While it was not an easy decision, it was undoubtedly the right decision,” he said.

Mittelhauser, citing Doty's lack of criminal history, urged the jury to recommend neither the minimum nor the maximum possible sentence.

In his closing argument before the verdict, Mittelhauser said the girls, who each testified in the trial Tuesday afternoon, had no reason to lie about the incidents. Mittelhauser said the defense accused the victims of lying, but all three were consistent in their accusations of Doty touching them inappropriately.

“They had absolutely no reason, no incentive, to tell a lie,” Mittelhauser said. “This is not a situation where the children had anything to gain whatsoever to come to court and lie.”

In his closing argument in defense of Doty, attorney Phillip Gibson argued each of the girls’ made inconsistent claims that did not match what the other girls described or the testimonies of other witnesses. He contended the prosecution did not overcome its burden of proof to convict Doty.

A guilty verdict “requires far more proof than what causes you to believe something might have happened or that there was an opportunity for it to happen; that is not enough,” Gibson said.

Mittelhauser suggested that had the girls intended to lie, they would have exaggerated the severity of the incidents of molestation, but their accusations remained consistent.

“They have consistently and repeatedly said that (inappropriate touching) is what happened,” Mittelhauser said.

Arguments continued late into Thursday night before the jury deliberated and returned the five-year sentence recommendations.

Doty will have a sentencing hearing Jan. 13, when Judge Robert Koffman will determine whether the sentences will run consecutively or concurrently.