A State Supreme Court ruling has upheld the state sexual misconduct law against arguments that it violated constitutional guarantees of free speech. The Court has ruled 5 to 2 to uphold the conviction of 61-year-old Charles Moore who suggested to a 13-year-old waitress at a Springfield restaurant that they go to his house to have oral sex. Moore argued that the law under which he was convicted violated free speech guarantees. Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore prosecuted the case all the way to the State Supreme Court and says the ruling makes it clear the law is constitutional and can be applied in such circumstances. The dissenting opinion in the case did argue the state law violated the free speech guarantees in the First Amendment. It would have required the prosecutors reach a higher standard for conviction.
