This week, the Kansas Supreme Court filed decisions in 10 appeals. The full text of which is linked beneath these digests:
Appeal No. 103,508: State v. David Andrew Stevenson, affirming the defendant’s Gove County first-degree murder conviction. Unanimous decision authored for the Court by Justice Marla Luckert, rejecting defendant’s contentions of error in the state’s use of a “Wheel of Fortune” analogy in questioning jurors about reasonable doubt, in the trial court’s refusal to give a defense requested instruction defining reasonable doubt, and in giving a jury instruction admonishing the jury not to consider penalty in arriving at a verdict.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/103508.pdf
Appeal No. 105,215: State v. Mark D. Waggoner, affirming the defendant’s Jefferson County conviction of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and his resulting sentence of the hard 25 prison term under Jessica’s Law. Unanimous, authored for the Court by Justice Marla J. Luckert, affirming the convictions and prison sentence, except for provisions for lifetime postrelease supervision and lifetime electronic monitoring.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/105215.pdf
Appeal No. 104,504: State v. James Arthur Qualls, remanding a Topeka man’s first-degree murder case for a new trial based upon the failure of the trial judge to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter. (5-2 decision arising from a fight at a local bar over a pool game in which Joseph Beier, one of the combatants, wound up getting shot 11 times.) Writing for the majority, Justice Dan Biles said there was ample evidence to support the defendant’s premeditated murder conviction, but that the failure to also instruct the jury on the lesser-included manslaughter charge was reversible error. Justice Eric S. Rosen, however, in a concurring and dissenting opinion also agreed there was sufficient evidence to support the premeditated murder conviction, but would not have ordered a new trial with a voluntary manslaughter charge included in the jury instructions. Joining Justice Rosen in the dissent was Justice Nancy L. Moritz.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/104504.pdf
Appeal No. 107,022: State v. Michael J. Mitchell, affirming a Wyandotte County decision denying Mitchell’s motion to void his 1995 convictions of felony murder and possession of cocaine, which arose from a drug deal “gone wrong.” Unanimous, authored for the Court by Justice Lee A. Johnson, holding that there was no basis for relief under the Kansas statute relied upon.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/107022.pdf
Appeal No. 104,579: State v. Kevin Conrad, affirming his hard 25 prison sentence that was imposed following his Reno County guilty pleas to three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious behavior, which were entered in exchange for the prosecutor’s dismissal of six additional charges. Unanimous, authored for the Court by Justice Nancy L. Moritiz, rejecting the defendant’s claim that the Jessica’s Law sentence is unconstitutional. (A sentencing provision of his sentence for lifetime postrelease supervision was vacated as not legally permitted in the Jessica’s Law case.)
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/104579.pdf
Appeal No. 105,351: State v. Zachary Toahty-Harvey, affirming the defendant’s 60-month prison sentence, including lifetime postrelease supervision, which was imposed after he pleaded no contest in Douglas County to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, Justice Lee A. Johnson noted that the downward departure 60-month sentence was imposed instead of a Jessica’s Law hard 25 sentence upon the recommendation of the prosecutor in return for the defendant’s plea.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/105351.pdf
Appeal No. 105,143: State v. Monty Carol Rogers, affirming the defendant’s hard 25 prison sentence that was imposed in Montgomery County after he pleaded no contest to aggravated criminal sodomy for his assault on a 7-year-old child. Unanimous, authored for the Court by Justice Eric S. Rosen affirming the prison sentence but setting aside a provision for lifetime postrelease supervision.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/105143.pdf
Appeal No. 106,184: State v. Richard G. Jackson, remanding Jackson’s 310-month Wyandotte County prison term for resentencing in compliance with two state statutes, which require reasons for departure from Jessica’s Law sentences to be stated on the record, and if a departure is granted to impose it within the correct Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act grid box. (Unanimous, authored by Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss, remanding for resentencing for rape and aggravated criminal sodomy.)
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/106184.pdf
Appeal No. 101,341: State v. Samuel Joseph Rochelle II, affirming the defendant’s Saline County convictions and resulting 214-month prison sentence for aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Unanimous, authored by Justice Eric S. Rosen, rejecting defendant’s contention that the district court was required to make factual findings about whether the seating arrangement was necessary to her testimony before allowing a “comfort witness” (in this case, the child’s school counselor) to sit next to her. The Court also denied a cross-appeal by the state challenging the trial court’s departure from a Jessica’s Law hard 25 sentence.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/101341.pdf
Appeal No. 100,648: Daniel J. Stechschulte Jr. et al. v. A. Drue Jennings et al., reversing a Johnson County decision granting summary judgment to the defendants in a civil suit over the sale of a Leawood residence that sustained extensive water damage resulting from a heavy rain a few weeks after the sale was concluded. Unanimous decision, authored for the Court by Justice Carol A. Beier, remanding to the district court for further proceedings.
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2013/20130412/100648.pdf