WARREN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed two sexual battery convictions for a Vicksburg man.

According to court documents, a Warren County Circuit Court jury convicted Carl Deanthony Smith on two counts of sexual battery of a victim under 14 years of age and 10 counts of possession of child pornography.

In 2024, Smith was sentenced to serve two concurrent terms of life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) for the two sexual battery convictions. He was also sentenced to serve 10 concurrent terms of 30 years for the 10 convictions of possession of child pornography.

In his appeal, Smith argued that insufficient evidence supported his convictions for sexual battery. The Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support those two convictions.

The court reversed Smith’s two sexual-battery convictions and life sentences. The court rendered a judgment of acquittal.

However, the court ruled that there was no error on the charges of possession of child pornography. The court affirmed Smith’s 10 convictions of possession of child pornography and remanded the case to allow the circuit court to reconsider the sentencing on the affirmed convictions.