For Immediate Release
Dec.11, 2023

Jurors returned a guilty verdict in one case that concluded late Friday, while a defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison on felony charges related to a 2020 robbery at an auto shop, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

In a child-sex case, the State of Missouri v. Jesus Rivera-Martinez, the jury found the defendant guilty of two counts of statutory sodomy in the 1st Degree and one count of Attempted Statutory Sodomy in the 1st Degree. Jackson County assistant prosecutors Beth Youngworth and Kendall Foley prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri. The defendant will be sentenced on Feb. 9, 2024.Be

In the other case on Friday, the state of Missouri v. Tomorren Garrett, a Jackson County judge sentenced the defendant to 10 years in state prison for convictions related to a robbery at an auto repair shop in 2020. In September 2023, jurors convicted the defendant of two counts of Robbery in the 1st Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action for a robbery at a Truman Road auto repair shop. See attached PC statement. Assistant prosecutors Hannah Bedford and Brady Twenter prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri. 

 For more information, contact:

Michael Mansur 

Director of Communication 

Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office 

Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor 

(816) 881-3812 

(816) 674-3954 

mmansur@jacksongov.org 

http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com 

Hannah and Brady who got a late-night guilty verdict on State v. Tomorren Garett in Division 1.  The defendant was found guilty as charged of 2 counts of robbery in the first degree and 2 counts of armed criminal action after an adventure of a jury trial.  The case occurred in 2020 and Hannah assumed a second chair role shorty after coming to the office.  She later became first chair in 2022 and worked very hard to finally see this one through to trial.  In preparation she worked hard to handle witness issues very much beyond her control and calmly handled turmoil of waiting to find out which day they would start after a long weekend.

Hannah handled two of the main state’s witnesses, for whom English is a second language, and did a great job of walking them through their testimony.  She also cross-examined two of the defendant’s witnesses and calmly handled some interesting stylistic choices from defense counsel.  Brady was a great second chair and used his wealth of experience to successfully cross-examine the defendant on his illogical version of events.  The trial team had a few curve balls thrown their way and did a great job of dealing with them.  The defendant, who was apparently not too concerned, was an hour and a half late for the last day of trial.  He then decided to absent himself from the entire process and left the courthouse before closing arguments, which should make for an interesting sentencing once he’s picked up. 

Thank you to Alicia for her wonderful victim support and to the investigators and legal assistants who helped finally get this one across the finish line.

A jury returned a guilty verdict on Friday afternoon in the case State v. Jesus Rivera-Martinez which was a child sex case involving 2 counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree and one count of attempted statutory sodomy in the first degree.  This was a hard-fought battle with the defense even fighting them on allowing the child to hold a stress ball while testifying arguing that making a young child uncomfortable during cross examination was one of the hallmarks of cross examination.  Fortunately, Beth and Kendall and Elizabeth did everything they could to make this victim feel safe while she was here in the courthouse and she was able to tell her story and get this child sex offender convicted.