by Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

While the state and the defense Friday morning argued over how much time a 33-year-old Hutchinson man should get in a child abuse case from 2007, District Judge Trish Rose sentenced Aron Pritchard to 110-months, down from the 124-months he was originally sentenced to by now Retired Judge Richard Rome, and a sentence Judge Rose had upheld previously.

Twice now the Court of Appeals remanded the case for re-sentencing based on the double rule in criminal cases.

The last time the case was before the court, Judge Rose ruled there was substantial evidence to grant the states motion a second time in sentencing Pritchard to an aggravated sentence in a child abuse case and then doubling the sentence, just as Judge Rome had done with the original sentence.

Pritchard’s Defense Attorney Lee Timan argued that he should only be given 62-months, 55-months for the abuse of a child count, and 7-months for the charge of endangering a child.

District Attorney Keith Schroeder argued that it should be 55-months on count 1 doubled, then 7-months on top of that for a total of 117-months. Judge Rose basically agreed with the state, but then ruled she could only sentence him up to 110-months.

Pritchard had been found guilty by a Reno County jury of child abuse for placing two children in a clothes dryer, a three-year-old boy, and a two-year-old girl. The boy sustained 2nd degree burns on his back, arms and buttocks. The crimes occurred on November 28, 2006.

Timan told the judge that they would file another appeal, so its conceivable that this case could come back again.