RENO COUNTY —  A hearing was held Monday for a convicted Kansas sex offender seeking relief from his life in prison sentence.  The Kansas Court of Appeals recently upheld the conviction and sentence.

Salvador Araujo-Gutierrez, 29, was originally found guilty of one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced on one Jessica’s law convictions with a life sentence and no chance of parole for 25 years. The encounters occurred between 2006 and 2011

At the hearing on Monday, Araujo-Gutierrez attorney Derek Miller of Liberal argued ineffective counsel by Kelly Driscoll who was with the local Public Defenders Office. 

Driscoll who now practices law in Johnson County took the stand to answer questions over what Miller sees as errors at trial including bringing up a prior bad act of stealing tools from a family member, but also the fact that he may have been in this country illegally. 

Driscoll had trouble recalling the specifics of why she did certain things at the trial in June of 2013.

Judge Tim Chambers will make a ruling on the civil motion.