In a first for Buchanan County and perhaps in the State of Missouri, a St Joseph man was convicted of sex crimes Thursday in part based on evidence that would not have been admissible last year.

Thanks to the voter-approved constitutional amendment, Missouri prosecutors may now present evidence of prior criminal acts, whether charged or uncharged, in order to demonstrate the defendant’s propensity to commit a sex crime against a victim under 18 years old.

That fact did not help Terry Matson, the 54-year-old St Joseph man charged with having sex with his girlfriend’s five-year-old granddaughter.

After deliberating for about three hours Thursday, a Buchanan County Circuit Court jury found Mr. Matson guilty on two counts of 1st Degree Statutory Sodomy and one count of 1st Degree Statutory Rape. Both crimes are unclassified felonies and carry no maximum limits on the possible prison terms allowed. Judge Daniel Kellogg scheduled sentencing January 11th.

The jury heard testimony from the five-year-old victim, as well as two other women who testified that the defendant sexually abused them when they were children. Both were daughters of different women Mr Matson was then married to. No charges were ever filed in either case.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kate Schaefer says that before the amendment passed, their testimony would never be allowed. Ms Schaefer says this is the first time such evidence has been heard by a jury in Buchanan County, and she says it’s the first case she could find anywhere in Missouri.

The defendant cried when the verdicts were read and then laid his head on the defense table.

Judge Kellogg raised Mr. Matson’s bail to $50,000 cash pending sentencing.