Jury Deliberated Only 40 Minutes

ST. LOUIS, MO (December 13, 2023) — A jury deliberated just 40 minutes before finding Devin Laselle Hughes, 36, guilty of first-degree statutory rape of a 12-year-old girl at a children’s sleepover at a Home2Home Suites Hotel on South Taylor Avenue on January 30, 2021, in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood.

Hughes will be sentenced on February 2, 2024. The range of punishment for first-degree statutory rape is from 5 to 30 years, or life in prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Circuit Attorney Adrine Krikorian and Special Victim Unit Team Leader Assistant Circuit Attorney Jeremy Crowley.



“Our team of prosecutors and victim services advocates did an exemplary job aggressively pursuing this case while demonstrating the utmost compassion for the victim,” said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. “The strength of their case is evident from the fact that the jury took less than an hour to find the defendant guilty as charged.”

###