The Missouri Supreme Court delivered a reprieve of sorts to a Parkville man convicted and sentenced for promoting and possession of child pornography.

The high court threw out seven counts against David Liberty, ruling that multiple images of child pornography do not necessarily constitute multiple criminal counts.

They left two convictions and sentences in place. The ruling does not prevent prosecutors from refiling the charges.

Liberty was tried and convicted on eight counts of possession and one count of promoting child pornography in Platte County Circuit Court in 2009.

Last December, his lawyers argued that eight separate sentences for the simultaneous possession of multiple images of child pornography violated his right to be free from double jeopardy.

In a 4-3 opinion written by Judge Laura Denvir Stith, the Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the man’s convictions for promoting child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography but reversed the other seven possession convictions and remanded the case back to the Circuit Court.

The ruling indicates the statute is not clear as to the permissible unit of prosecution, and thus the Court interpreted the statute to permit only a single conviction on the evidence presented.

This does not preclude the state from retrying Liberty, because they say the reversal was necessitated by trial error.