Penalty would ease for marijuana users, toughen for child molesters under Missouri overhaul

Missouri lawmakers are poised to send Gov. Jay Nixon legislation to overhaul the state’s criminal laws.

House Majority Leader John Diehl says the chamber will vote on a measure that passed the Senate earlier this year. An affirmative House vote would send the bill to Nixon, who has expressed concern over the bill’s size and scope.

The measure creates new classes of felonies and misdemeanors, and reorganizes crimes to fit the new penalty structure.

Some crimes, such as possessing small amounts of marijuana for the first time, would be punished less severely than under current law. But other crimes, including child molestation, would carry longer possible prison sentences.

This story was originally published April 21, 2014 at 7:02 AM with the headline "Penalty would ease for marijuana users, toughen for child molesters under Missouri overhaul."