MISSOURI
Lake News
Posted Dec. 7, 2015
The jury trial of Travis Ray Smith, 45, of California, Mo., the man accused of multiple counts related to child sexual abuse and rape has been declared a mistrial by Judge Kenneth Hayden at the request of the defense attorney, according to the Moniteau County Circuit Clerk’s office.
The reason for the mistrial is not immediately known.
Day one of the jury trial began Monday morning at roughly 9 am in Moniteau County. At some point in the afternoon a request for a mistrial was requested and granted. Smith was formerly scheduled to go to trial on June 2, 2014 after the first trial was continued in late 2013.
In September 2012, Smith was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on charged of forcible rape, sexual abuse and two counts of statutory rape in the second degree in incidents alleged to have taken place in 1998 and 1999. He was also then charged in Moniteau County Circuit Court with statutory rape in the second degree and statutory sodomy in the second degree related to incidents alleged to have occurred in 2005.
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