By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Forty-three year-old Anthony Miller was sentenced to almost nine years in prison Monday after he was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Miller was charged with rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. In December he was convicted by a jury of aggravated indecent liberties with a child but the jury was deadlocked on the rape charge.

On Monday, Miller was sentenced in Ellis County District Court to 107 months in prison.

The sentencing phase of the trial was delayed a number of times because of Miller’s objection to a portion of his criminal history. At issue were two prior felony convictions in California.

Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees said his office received certified documents from California for residential burglary and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but that does not meet Kansas’ “hearsay statute,” so the judge ruled they could not be considered during sentencing.

The “hearsay statute” statute requires court documents to be authenticated. The judge in the case must sign off on the clerk’s signature and vice versa. But Drees said they very seldom receive the verified paperwork because of the reliance on electronic records.

The court services clerk testified Monday court services collected these records while gathering information and Drees said they could also be used under the “business record statute.”

Drees argued that there are three competing statutes and they should be allowed to use a lower standard that only requires a “preponderance of evidence.” The documents received from California, in this case, would fall under that statute.

Because the two California convictions were taken off his history Miller was lowered from an “A” to a “C” on the state sentencing guidelines, according to Drees.

Under column “C” the presumed sentence for aggravated indecent liberties with a child is 233 month or 19 years and five months, a difference of 10 years and six months, according to Drees.

Drees said he hopes they can go to the state legislature and use this case as an example of the need to change what he called an “archaic” statute.

He also stressed the issue was not with the judge or the court but said they are “stuck” with the statute.

Miller gets credit for 579 days served in jail.