The Kansas Supreme Court this week will hear the appeal of a former Ellsworth Correctional Facility employee seeking to avoid being tried for murder.

Freddie Alec Thomas claimed immunity on the basis of self-defense in the 2015 Barton County shooting death of Jeremy Alan Saldana, 36. That claim was overruled by the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2017.

Thomas filed a petition for a review by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Issues on review are whether: 1) the district court correctly applied the law on self-defense immunity from prosecution; and 2) the Court of Appeals erred by reversing and remanding by finding the district court’s failure to make specific findings of fact precluded appellate review.

Thomas, a former Ellsworth Correctional Facility officer, was dating Saldana’s ex-girlfriend at the time of the 2015 shooting. It happened after Thomas went to visit the woman’s daughter and her husband, not knowing that Saldana was living with the couple. An unarmed Saldana was shot during a pushing match.

Thomas told a detective he’d heard Saldana was known to carry a weapon and could be violent.

The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Topeka.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.