Child's testimony gets Neosho man ordered to stand trial in statutory charge

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Mar. 9—NEOSHO, Mo. — A 9-year-old girl testified in court Monday that state inmate Jameson Schubert did "bad things" to her five years ago when she and her siblings were living in Neosho.

Schubert, 29, of Neosho, is currently serving time in the Missouri Department of Corrections for second-degree assault and driving while intoxicated.

He was back in Newton County Circuit Court on Monday for a preliminary hearing on a charge of first-degree statutory sodomy. At the conclusion of the hearing at which the 9-year-old girl and her grandmother were called as the state's only witnesses, Associate Court Judge Christine Rhoades decided there was probable cause for Schubert to stand trial on the charge and set a hearing Tuesday for his initial appearance in a trial division of the court.

Assistant Prosecutor J.D. Hatcher tried to ease the child into her testimony at the hearing by asking if she knew why she was there. She acknowledged that it had to do with "bad things" that had happened to her when she was 3 years old and living at a house in Neosho.

"Who did those 'bad things' to you?" Hatcher asked.

"Jameson," the girl replied.

She said Schubert gave her alcohol to drink and touched her "down here."

The child acknowledged under cross-examination by public defender Kellie Duckering that it happened just once and that she was naked at the time.

Duckering asked if she remembered being interviewed two times at the Children's Center in Joplin and telling investigators on the second occasion that nothing had happened. She said she did not remember how many times she had been there, nor telling anyone that.

Hatcher also called the girl's grandmother, in whose care the girl has been placed, to testify about a disclosure the girl made to her five years ago.

The grandmother said the girl told her that Schubert sexually touched her.

Schubert was sent to prison two years ago for a home-invasion assault in 2018 on 58-year-old Dwight Ferguson at residence near Seneca. Ferguson suffered severe facial injuries in the attack.

The Newton County prosecutor's office dismissed a charge that he sexually abused the older sister of the girl who testified Monday in July of last year due to problems with their case. The charge involving the younger girl was filed shortly after that case was dismissed.