ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has overturned the sodomy conviction of a former football player from a private Christian school in suburban St. Louis.

The court ruled Tuesday that a prosecutor and judge made mistakes in the case against Maverick Holmsley, who was sentenced to five years in prison for the 2016 conviction. The decision sends the case back to St. Louis County Circuit Court for retrial.

Holmsley, who is now 22, was among five players from Principia School accused of pulling sleeping teammates from their beds and sexually assaulting them with objects that included pencils during a sports camp.

The four other former Principia students charged in the case reached plea deals for short stints behind bars and avoided joining Missouri’s sex offender registry.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Mike Parson has ordered the flags to be flown at half-staff at all Missouri government buildings Thursday to honor a southwest Missouri sheriff’s deputy who drowned during flooding.

Thirty-five-year-old Greene County Deputy Aaron Roberts’ patrol car was swept off a roadway Friday night.

Roberts had just returned to service following a 911 hang-up call Friday night when he radioed that his car had been washed off the road into the Pomme de Terre River in Fair Grove. Sheriff Jim Arnott says Roberts’ body was found inside the car a short time later.

Services for Roberts are scheduled for Thursday in Springfield.

He had worked for the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for about a year. He is survived by a wife and child.

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FAIR GROVE, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri group has given $25,000 to the family of a sheriff’s deputy who died when his patrol car was swept away by floodwaters.

The Greene County 100 Club gave a $25,000 check over the weekend to the widow of 35-year-old Greene County Deputy Aaron Paul Roberts. He was killed Friday night when his car was washed into the Pomme de Terre River in Fair Grove.

Separate fundraising efforts are also underway. But 100 Club chairman, Bob Cirtin, says the group wanted to do something to provide for the immediate needs of Roberts’ wife and daughter. Cirtin is also Green County’s presiding commissioner.

The club relies on donations from individuals and corporate partners.

Funeral services are planned for Thursday. They’re also being donated.

BARRY COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 4:30p.m. Tuesday in Barry County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford F150 driven by Kelly P. Vaught, 47, Crane, was east bound on MO. 248 five miles southwest of Crane.

The pickup struck a 2001 Galena District school bus driven by Paul E. Schlis, 57, Galena, head-on.

Vaught was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Fohn’s Funeral Home in Cassville. There were no injuries on the school bus.

He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — GOP state lawmakers are divided over whether they support fellow Republican Kris Kobach’s candidacy to become Kansas’ next governor, according to a newspaper’s survey.

Twenty-eight percent of GOP lawmakers it surveyed would not say if they support Kobach’s candidacy and close to 10 percent did not respond to repeated inquiries. Four moderate Republicans from Johnson County have already said they will not vote for Kobach.

“I’m not going to take a position on that race. I just don’t feel like it’s any benefit to me to do that,” said House Majority Whip Kent Thompson, a Republican from Iola, without elaborating.

Among Democrats, 94 percent of those in the Legislature said they will support candidate Laura Kelly.

“She will be a great Governor and the alternative is too horrible to even contemplate,” Rep. Jerry Stogsdill, a Prairie Village Democrat, said in an email.

Kobach defeated Gov. Jeff Colyer by 343 votes in the August primary, confirming a deep divide between moderates and conservatives in the state GOP. Since Kobach’s victory, some conservatives have criticized moderates for not supporting the party’s nominee in his race against Kelly and independent Greg Orman.

In August, House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican from Dighton, said in an email to more than two dozen centrists that voting for Orman or Kelly “could well be a career-ending move for anyone who chose to do so.” He did not respond to The Star’s questions about whether he will support Kobach.

Others in the party are strong Kobach supporters.

“Secretary Kobach is the best candidate for governor this State has had in my lifetime,” Rep. Francis Awerkamp, a St. Marys Republican, said in an email.

Kobach has long espoused conservative views on immigration, taxes and social issues and he has indicated during the campaign that he will not work to attract moderate voters in the general election.

He said after the first gubernatorial debate in Overland Park that the lack of apparent support is part of the candidates’ strategic plans when they consider their district’s wishes.

“This is typical in any major election where you have people at different levels up and down the ballot,” Kobach said.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, a GOP moderate, said earlier this summer that she would vote for Kelly.

“I don’t understand why not, why they won’t,” Bollier said about moderates not coming out against Kobach. “It’s hard for me to understand. It’s about being electable, they believe, and for me it’s about doing the right thing for the state.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Court records say a southwest Missouri woman recorded herself fighting with her boyfriend before killing him.

Forty-five-year-old Melanie Spencer is jailed on $500,000 bond on first-degree assault and armed criminal action charges in the weekend shooting of 41-year-old Samuel Biggs in rural Greene County. He died later at a hospital but upgraded charges haven’t been filed. No attorney is listed for Spencer in online court

The video recording ends with Biggs walking away and saying “stop” as Spencer continues to advance. Court documents say Spencer says she is going to shoot Biggs before a single gunshot and screaming is heard.

Spencer told investigators the couple’s fighting was physical and verbal. But she said was angry, not fearful, when she pulled the trigger

records.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas panel has ruled that a suburban Kansas City man who is charged with election fraud can remain on the November ballot.

The state objections board issued its ruling Monday in the case against Adam Thomas, of Olathe. The finding that the Republican candidate for the 26th District House seat can remain on the ballot has nothing to do with his pending court case.

Thomas was arrested last Thursday and charged with election perjury. Democratic state Rep. Vic Miller, of Topeka, had called for an investigation into Thomas in June after presenting evidence that he didn’t live in the district where he was running.

Thomas’ attorney, Michael Kuckelman, maintains that Thomas will be acquitted in the court case.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A 27-year-old central Missouri man has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for a fatal school bus crash.

A Boone County judge on Tuesday sentenced Brandon Brill, of Clark, to 22 years in prison for the September 2017 crash that killed 37-year-old Brian Simpson, a Harrisburg teacher and cross-country coach.

Brill pleaded guilty in July to first-degree involuntary manslaughter and second degree-assault.

Investigators say Simpson was driving students to a track meet when Brill’s pickup truck crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the Harrisburg bus, which overturned and caught on fire.

Simpson died at the scene and five students were taken to the hospital.

Brill said he had worked more than 100 hours before the crash and was driving home from a 16-hour shift at a Centralia nursing home.

WICHITA, KAN. – A federal grand jury Tuesday returned a series of criminal indictments in separate cases charging defendants with unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Jose Rafael Gutierrez-Yanez, 27, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with one count of unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported four times. He was found in March 2018 in Sumner County, Kansas.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison. 

Cruz Diaz-Carballo, 34, who is not a U.S. citizen, is charged with unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported three times. He was found Aug. 13, 2018, in Johnson County, Kansas.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison. 

Otilio Benitez-Acquirre, 39, who is not a U.S. citizen, is charged with unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported two times. He was found Aug. 7, 2018, in Johnson County, Kansas.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison. 

Jose Fernandez-Casas, 45, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with one count of unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported Pratt County, Kansas

If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison. 

Roberto Sanchez-Salas, 49, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with one count of unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported. He was found in September 2018 in Ellis County, Kan.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett is prosecuting the cases.