Miss. court tosses exploitation conviction
Court Alerts
The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of Vanessa Decker, who was given a 4-year suspended sentence in 2008 on a charge of exploiting her own mother.
Last year, the state Court of Appeals upheld Decker's conviction.
Decker was convicted in Clay County of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult for taking $4,120 from her mother's bank account between November 2005 and April 2007. She said she had permission.
The Supreme Court says a jury instruction given by the trial judge conflicted with Decker's indictment. The court said the failure of the judge to correct the mistake required the conviction to be overturned.
Decker had argued the law under which she was convicted was vague. The Supreme Court did not discuss that issue.
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