State of Missouri vs. Shane A. Duncan

CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 24, 2025
DocketWD86820
StatusPublished

This text of State of Missouri vs. Shane A. Duncan (State of Missouri vs. Shane A. Duncan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Missouri vs. Shane A. Duncan, (Mo. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS WESTERN DISTRICT

STATE OF MISSOURI, ) ) Respondent, ) WD86820 ) v. ) OPINION FILED: ) SHANE A. DUNCAN, ) June 24, 2025 ) Appellant. ) )

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Johnson County, Missouri Honorable Stacey Lett, Judge

Before Division Four: Anthony Rex Gabbert, Chief Judge Presiding, Lisa White Hardwick, Judge, and Janet Sutton, Judge

Shane Duncan (Duncan) was found guilty by a jury of three counts of abuse of a child, in

violation of section 568.060, and one count of second-degree domestic assault in violation of

section 565.073 1 for injuries he inflicted on his two-month-old son, Victim. Duncan appeals,

arguing that the trial court committed plain error by failing to sua sponte find a double jeopardy

violation for his convictions for two of the abuse of a child charges. The trial court’s judgment is

affirmed.

1 All statutory references are to RSMo (2016). Factual and Procedural Background

In July 2023, Duncan was indicted on three counts of abuse or neglect of a child, counts

I–III, and one count of second-degree domestic assault, count IV. The abuse or neglect counts

covered a date range of seven days between January 16, 2023, and January 22, 2023. The State

alleged in count I that Duncan struck Victim in the back and inflicted serious physical injury. In

count II, the State alleged that Duncan pulled, twisted, or shook Victim’s legs, causing serious

physical injury. Count III alleged Victim suffered physical injury when Duncan knowingly

neglected Victim when he failed to seek proper medical attention. Finally, the State alleged in

count IV, the second-degree domestic assault count, that on January 22, 2023, Duncan caused

physical injury to Victim by striking him.

Duncan does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. The

evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, showed the following:

Duncan and his wife, M.S. (Wife) had a child, Victim, born in November 2022. Victim

spent the first two weeks of his life in the hospital. He came home, only to return for another

two weeks in the hospital. He was released sometime in January. On January 14, 2023, Victim

had a routine medical follow-up where he had no injuries and was healthy, other than not gaining

weight.

In late January 2023, when Victim was around two months old, it was routine for

Duncan to watch Victim while Wife worked every day for four to five hours. Victim spent one

night with Wife’s mother. Otherwise, Victim was solely in the care of Duncan and/or Wife. On

January 22, after Victim had been irritable for a few days, Duncan and Wife took Victim to the

hospital because Victim was vomiting, did not want to be held, was acting like “something was

2 hurting,” and was “very, very fussy.” Doctors initially found blisters from a large burn covering

the entire top of Victim’s mouth, a skull fracture, and a broken arm.

After being informed of this, Wife asked Duncan what was going on, and Duncan did not

tell Wife anything. A hospital social worker then told Duncan and Mother that doctors found

that Victim had additional injuries including rib, spine, and leg fractures. When informed about

Victim’s injuries, Duncan said the burn in Victim’s mouth might have been caused by him

microwaving Victim’s formula. Regarding Victim’s arm fracture, Duncan wondered if he had

“swaddled” Victim “too tightly.” Duncan commented that Victim’s skull fracture might have

been caused by Duncan dropping his phone twice on Victim’s head. Regarding Victim’s other

injuries, Duncan turned to Wife, stated this “was not an accident,” and he “wondered aloud”

whether Wife’s mother “could have done this.”

Duncan and Wife then went for a walk during which Duncan told Wife that he had fallen

on Victim. Duncan did not say that Victim stopped breathing because of the fall or that he

performed CPR on Victim. When Duncan and Wife told hospital staff about the fall, the staff

asked Duncan follow-up questions. Duncan said that four or five nights before bringing Victim

to the hospital, he had been walking with Victim in the middle of the night, that it was dark, and

he tripped and fell on Victim. Duncan did not say that Victim stopped breathing or that he tried

to perform CPR.

A physician in the hospital’s SCAN Clinic, a clinic that sees children who have suffered

possible abuse or neglect, testified that several diagnostic tests were run on Victim, including

head CTs, a skeletal survey (head-to-toe x-rays), and “bleeding labs.” The tests revealed

Victim’s additional injuries. Victim had a “parietal skull fracture,” on the right side of his head

that was likely caused by blunt force trauma to Victim’s head. The fracture had swelling around

3 it, indicating it was an acute injury, meaning that it had occurred no more than a week before.

Accidentally dropping a cell phone on Victim’s head would not cause enough force to cause the

skull fracture.

Victim also had a subconjunctival hemorrhage (bleeding) in the white part of his eye,

which would have also been likely caused by blunt force trauma. Wife reported that she noticed

the bleeding the day before Victim was brought to the hospital.

Victim had seven posterior rib fractures; five on the right side of his body and two on the

left side. These posterior rib fractures would have been caused by a “compression force,” like “a

violent squeezing” or some other “violent impact” to Victim’s back area, near his ribs. There

was no new bone formation, and the doctor testified that Victim’s rib fractures had occurred

seven to ten days earlier. Force applied to the front of the chest would not have caused the

posterior rib fractures.

Victim also had six “compression” vertebrae fractures, and he had an area of blood

around his spinal cord. The fractures were on the spine in the upper and middle thoracic region,

and on the lower spine in the lumbar region. The doctor opined that these injuries could have

been caused by Victim being slammed down hard on his bottom or by violent hyperextension,

which would occur by being “violently flung back.” These were acute injuries that had occurred

within the past week or so. Pushing on Victim’s chest, such as during CPR, would not have

caused the fractures in his back.

Victim had a displaced radius fracture in his right forearm that was caused by a “violent

[] bending force or other blunt kind of trauma.” “Excessive force” would have been required to

cause such a break in a baby because a baby’s bones are “actually very strong,” and a break such

4 as this would have been “obvious” when it occurred. This fracture had also occurred within the

past seven to ten days. Swaddling a baby too tightly would not have caused such a fracture.

Finally, Victim had multiple classic metaphyseal lesions, also called corner fractures or

bucket handle fractures, in his right shin bone near the ankle, in the same shin bone by the knee,

and in his right thigh bone by the knee. Victim had the same type of fractures in the shin and

thigh bone on the left side by his knee. The doctor testified that these fractures are highly

indicative of child physical abuse, explaining that, “these are unique fractures that are caused by

a violent yanking or pulling on the bone,” and it would have been apparent when they occurred

because a baby would cry from the pain. The doctor believed that the fractures also occurred

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State of Missouri vs. Shane A. Duncan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-missouri-vs-shane-a-duncan-moctapp-2025.