HERMANN — A former Gasconade County sheriff’s deputy on Friday morning avoided trial on three felony sexual assault charges by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.

Matthew A. Hutchings, of Morrison, was dressed in a dark-colored suit and wearing a close-cropped haircut popular with many law enforcement personnel. He sat alone quietly in the main Gasconade County Courthouse courtroom as Division 1 Circuit Court Judge Craig Hellmann worked his way through a crowded docket during this month’s Law Day session. Hutchings’ attorney, Travis L. Noble Jr., arrived after the session began.

The former deputy sheriff was facing three serious felonies — two counts of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy charges and a first-degree sexual abuse charge — stemming from an assault on a Hermann woman two years ago. Records found on Case.net indicate the guilty plea was to a class A misdemeanor charge of second-degree sexual abuse.

Hutchings had been scheduled for a jury trial on Tuesday (March 3).

Two “unclassified” felony counts of first-degree sodomy/attempted sodomy will not be prosecuted, according to the online case report. Hutchings was originally charged with a class C felony for the one count of first-degree sexual assault.

The case was prosecuted by Missouri Assistant Attorney General Caleb John Aponte. He and co-counsel Katharine Anne Dolin attended the Law Day session and left shortly before Hellmann resumed the proceedings after a recess where he conducted conferences in the judge’s chamber.

Hutchings did not put in an appearance before Hellmann; rather, he signed papers amounting to a written plea of guilty. During the recess, Aponte told a reporter that there would be an announcement by the court regarding the plea. However, after returning to the courtroom, Hellmann acted on several other cases on the docket and mentioned Hutchings’ plea only when asked by a reporter in the audience.

The judge said Hutchings’ pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, but offered no specifics or if a sentence on that plea had been handed down. All attorneys associated with the case were gone from the courtroom by the time Hellmann responded to the reporter’s question. Hutchings had worked as a sheriff’s deputy in Osage and Gasconade counties before being fired by Sheriff John Romanus when he was charged in the March 2018 case.