State of Missouri, Respondent v. Maura L. Celis-Garcia, Appellant

Summary

The Supreme Court of Missouri held that the verdict directors violated the defendant's state constitutional right to a unanimous jury verdict because they allowed jurors to rely on different underlying acts of hand-to-genital contact. The instructional error was plain error resulting in manifest injustice, so the convictions were reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. The court did not decide whether the challenged expert testimony improperly vouched for the victims' credibility, but directed that any renewed evidentiary ruling distinguish generalized from particularized testimony.