Kansas Supreme Court Decisions 2018
Date: December 21, 2018
Docket Number: 112851
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit kidnapping, vacated his accompanying sentence, and reversed the district court’s order dismissing Defendant’s pro se motion under Kan. Stat. Ann.…
Date: December 21, 2018
Docket Number: 114894
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals holding that the trial court abused its discretion in not granting Defendant a new trial because of the State’s exercise of a peremptory strike that removed…
Date: December 14, 2018
Docket Number: 114567
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court remanded this case to the district court for a new hearing on the State’s motion to correct an illegal sentence, holding that prosecutorial error may occur during a sentencing proceeding before a judge…
Date: December 7, 2018
Docket Number: 112959
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions of possession of cocaine, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, and related offenses, holding primarily that the trial court did not err in refusing to…
Date: December 7, 2018
Docket Number: 113888
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s misdemeanor convictions of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, holding that the totality of the circumstances surrounding a police officer’s detection of…
Date: December 7, 2018
Docket Number: 116398
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part the district court’s order suppressing drug-related evidence seized during a residential search supported by a warrant, holding that the affidavit…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 108394
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and domestic battery, holding that while the trial court erred in failing to give two lesser included…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 111444
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming Defendant’s conviction for one count of possession or use of a commercial explosive, holding that, although several errors occurred during…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 115038
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed defendant’s convictions for premeditated first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm, holding that Defendant was not prejudiced or deprived of a fair trial. Specifically, the…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 117322
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motions to modify his sentence and to order a new presentence investigation report (PSI) on remand from the decision of the Court of Appeals vacating…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 117341
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s sentence of life without the possibility of parole for fifty years (hard fifty sentence), holding that the district court’s retroactive application of Kan. Stat. Ann. 21-6620 did…
Date: November 21, 2018
Docket Number: 113493
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of attempted voluntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and criminal possession of a…
Date: November 21, 2018
Docket Number: 114292
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing Plaintiff’s action brought under the Kansas Judicial Review Act (KJRA) based upon the decision of…
Date: November 21, 2018
Docket Number: 115591
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for premeditated first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, holding that there was no reversible error in the proceedings…
Date: November 21, 2018
Docket Number: 119458
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court concluding that the State had not met its burden of establishing the application of an established exception to the warrant requirement in justifying the…
Date: November 16, 2018
Docket Number: 115651
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the district court ordering Defendant to pay $10,800 in restitution to a couple with whom Defendant and her daughter had been…
Date: October 26, 2018
Docket Number: 113291
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the decision of the district court granting summary judgment to The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company on Daniel Becker’s insurance coverage…
Date: October 26, 2018
Docket Number: 116690
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions of first-degree premeditated murder and criminal possession of a firearm, holding that there was no prejudicial error in the trial proceedings. Specifically, the Court…
Date: October 26, 2018
Docket Number: 117270
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the district court summarily denying Appellant’s motion to correct and illegal sentence, holding that Appellant’s claims could not be raised in a motion to correct an illegal…
Date: October 5, 2018
Docket Number: 114373
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction of premeditated first-degree murder on retrial and his hard-twenty-five life sentence, holding that Defendant was not prejudiced by any errors so as to deny him a fair…
Date: October 5, 2018
Docket Number: 115377
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s jury trial convictions for premeditated first-degree murder, attempted premeditated first-degree murder, and other crimes, holding that the error in the proceedings below did not…
Date: October 5, 2018
Docket Number: 115739
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals to dismiss Defendant’s appeal of the district court’s failure to modify his guideline sentence upon revocation of his probation and remanded to the Court of…
Date: October 5, 2018
Docket Number: 116710
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for child abuse and felony murder, holding that the instances of prosecutorial error in this case did not require reversal, either individually or…
Date: October 5, 2018
Docket Number: 117723
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from a district court’s order terminating a natural father’s parental rights, the Supreme Court reversed the rulings of the lower courts and remanded to the district court with directions to conduct…
Date: September 28, 2018
Docket Number: 112500
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the district court’s modification of its originally ordered period of postrelease supervision after the original term of supervision had ended and…
Date: September 28, 2018
Docket Number: 115451
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s sentence for driving under the influence (DUI) based on two prior convictions for DUI, holding that a prior municipal court conviction for DUI under a Wichita ordinance prohibiting…
Date: September 21, 2018
Docket Number: 113097
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that separate damage claims against a deceased trustee for punitive and double damages under Kan. Stat. Ann. 58a-1002 and under the common law relating to a breach of trust and a breach of…
Date: September 21, 2018
Docket Number: 115126
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case construing the full-performance exception to the statute of frauds, Kan. Stat. Ann. 33-101 et seq., the Supreme Court adopted the rule set forth in Restatement (Second) of Contracts, 130, holding that full…
Date: September 7, 2018
Docket Number: 112842
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the district court’s revocation of Defendant’s probation and order to serve his underlying prison sentence, holding that the district court failed…
Date: September 7, 2018
Docket Number: 113675
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Defendants in this contract dispute, holding that the district court correctly found that the…
Date: September 7, 2018
Docket Number: 115067
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the district court ordering Devin Wilson to pay Kenneth Risley a jury award in favor of Risley, holding that the district court…
Date: August 31, 2018
Docket Number: 113299
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was the legal limits of a district judge’s sentencing power after probation revocation. The Supreme Court held in this appeal and in a similar case decided today, State v. Roth, __ P.3d __, that (1) after…
Date: August 31, 2018
Docket Number: 113753
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was the legal limits of a district judge’s sentencing power after probation revocation. The Supreme Court held in this appeal and in a similar case decided today, State v. Sandoval, __ P.3d __ (this day…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 111105
Justia Opinion Summary: In this medical malpractice action the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court finding Defendant negligent and the awarding damages to his deceased patient’s heirs and estate, holding that any error in the…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 111361
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress drug evidence law enforcement officers discovered after searching a car Kimberly Motley was driving and in which Defendant was a…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 112429
Justia Opinion Summary: In this medical malpractice action, the Supreme Court affirmed the jury’s verdict in favor of Plaintiffs on causation issues but reversed and vacated the $550,000 monetary award, holding (1) Plaintiffs established a…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 112701
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the district court entering judgment upon a jury verdict rendered in favor of Defendant, a doctor, on Plaintiff’s medical malpractice claim, holding that there was no error in…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 115457
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the district court denying Defendant’s request for a downward departure from the hard twenty-five life sentence under Jessica’s Law and, in so holding, clarified the process for…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 115468
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s hard twenty-five life sentence specified by Jessica’s Law under Kan. Stat. Ann. 21-6627, holding that the district court abused its discretion by relying on factual determinations…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 115819
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was a real estate contract containing a “first right of refusal” applicable to a separate land tract. Appellant sought specific performance and title to a smaller parcel that was sold after he failed to respond…
Date: August 24, 2018
Docket Number: 115932
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court holding Great Plains of Kiowa County, Inc. subject to the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) and compelling it to provide records requested by the State through…
Date: August 17, 2018
Docket Number: 114753
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming Defendant’s conviction for driving under the influence (DUI), holding that the lower courts did not err when they concluded that Kan. Stat. Ann.…
Date: August 17, 2018
Docket Number: 115051
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the district court’s summary denial of Defendant’s motion to correct an illegal sentence under Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-3504, holding that a motion to…
Date: August 17, 2018
Docket Number: 116430
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction of first-degree premeditated murder of his wife and his sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for fifty years, holding that there was no…
Date: August 17, 2018
Docket Number: 116968
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to file a late appeal, holding that the district court improperly considered irrelevant, outside the record information in deciding that…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 111554
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the district court that Defendant violated the terms of his probation but reversed and remanded for further proceedings concerning the revocation of probation and imposition of…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 112492
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals reversing Defendant’s conviction for aggravated criminal sodomy, holding that the conviction was unsupported by sufficient evidence of the crime the State…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 112523
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s sentence for driving under the influence (DUI), which was based on two prior convictions for DUI, holding that the sentencing provisions of Kan. Stat. Ann. 8-1567(i)(1) that define…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 112549
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the invited-error doctrine does not automatically apply every time a party requests a jury instruction at trial but them claims on appeal that the district court erred by giving it. Rather,…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 115196
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s sentence for involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence (DUI), a sentence that was based on a prior conviction in Wichita Municipal Court as a person felony, holding…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 115277
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated defendant’s sentence for driving under the influence (DUI), which was based on two prior convictions in a Wichita Municipal Court, holding that a conviction based on the ordinance cannot be used…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 115278
Justia Opinion Summary: As detailed in the Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Gensler, __ P.3d __, also decided this day, the Supreme Court held that a conviction based on a Wichita ordinance prohibiting operation of a vehicle under certain…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 115531
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held in this wrongful death lawsuit that a landowner whose property abuts a rural intersection owes no duty to passing drivers to trim or remove trees or other vegetation on the property. The estate…
Date: August 10, 2018
Docket Number: 115834
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence imposed upon Defendant following remand, holding that there was no reversible error in the trial court’s judgment. Defendant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder,…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 106741
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, and other crimes, holding that none of Defendant’s contentions on appeal warranted reversal. Specifically,…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 113220
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming Defendant’s convictions for possession of marijuana with intent to sell and failure to pay the Kansas drug tax stamp, holding that there was…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 115434
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that summary judgment was improperly granted to a title company on negligence and breach of fiduciary duty claims that arose out of the company’s omission of a reserved mineral interest in a deed…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 116446
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a law enforcement officer lacked an articulable and reasonable suspicion that the unidentified driver of a car stopped at a traffic stop did not have a valid driver’s license, and therefore,…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 116954
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that although the Prairie Village Police Department (PVPD) violated Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-2401a(2) when it conducted two controlled buys from J.O., a juvenile, at her residence, the district court did…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 117167
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court denied Clay Robert Snyder’s petition for habeas relief in which he requested release from his confinement and dismissal of his criminal charges with prejudice, holding that there were no federal speedy…
Date: July 27, 2018
Docket Number: 117512
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the district court committing Defendant to Larned State Hospital for care and treatment after finding that he was mentally ill and dangerous under Kan. Stat. Ann. 59-2946(e) and…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 114269
Justia Opinion Summary: The law enforcement officer in this case conducted a constitutional search under the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), relating to a search-incident-to-lawful-arrest exception…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 114284
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case involving the manifest justice factors in Kan. Stat. Ann. 60-1507, both pre- and post-amendment, the Supreme Court held that, based on the record before it, it could not be determined whether Defendant…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 115435
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Matthew Wilson proximately caused Michael Lowery’s death by attacking those in the apartment, including Joel Solano, leading to Solano’s foreseeable defensive response of accidentally killing Lowery. After…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 116981
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in Alexis Tracy’s apartment at the time the apartment was searched by law enforcement officers, and therefore, Defendant had standing to challenge the search. Law…
Date: June 29, 2018
Docket Number: 115483
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for felony murder, holding that sufficient evidence supported the conviction even where the State charged Defendant as the killer but the trial evidence established that…
Date: June 29, 2018
Docket Number: 116174
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions of aggravated burglary and first-degree felony murder. Defendant was charged with aggravated burglary and first-degree felony murder. A jury convicted Defendant of…
Date: June 25, 2018
Docket Number: 113267
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether the State’s remedial legislation, the Kansas School Equity and Enhancement Act (KSEEA), enacted by 2017 Senate Bill 19, met the adequacy requirement of Kan. Const. art. VI, 6(b). In Gannon v. State,…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 112556
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether a criminal defendant’s claim of actual innocence may excuse procedural defaults that would otherwise bar litigation of motions filed under Kan. Stat. Ann. 60-1507. The Supreme Court reversed the…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 114895
Justia Opinion Summary: Holding that the plain language of Kan. Stat. Ann. 38-2273(a) did not provide Grandfather the right to appeal an order denying his motion to terminate the parental rights of his grandson’s parents, the Supreme Court…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 116250
Justia Opinion Summary: A law enforcement officer’s detailed questions into a driver’s travel plans measurably extended the stop’s duration and were not justified by any reasonable suspicion of or probable cause to believe there was other…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 116636
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the lower courts erred in concluding that the traffic stop in this case was impermissibly extended. The district court suppressed from evidence thirty-eight pounds of marijuana seized after a…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 116637
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court properly suppressed drug-related evidence discovered in a vehicle search following a traffic stop because the officer improperly prolonged the traffic stop. The district court found the initial…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 102605
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for capital murder and aggravated kidnapping but, as to Defendant’s death sentence, the Court remanded the limited question on intellectual disability to the district…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 111608
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals ruling on Defendant’s motion for a new trial in this criminal case and affirmed Defendant’s conviction for felony burglary and the district court’s denial of Defendant’s…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 116818
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court rejected the arguments of Plaintiffs, two public school teachers, who sought a judgment declaring the 2014 amendments to the Teacher Due Process Act, Kan. Stat. Ann. 72-5436 et seq., unconstitutional…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 112224
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court erred in this case by denying Defendant’s petition for DNA testing of hairs found at the crime scene. Defendant was convicted of kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery, and aggravated intimidation of a…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 112573
Justia Opinion Summary: A defendant may not assert self-defense if that defendant is already otherwise committing a forcible felony when he or she commits a separate act of violence. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction of…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 113117
Justia Opinion Summary: Substantial evidence supported the Workers Compensation Board’s decision to deny workers compensation benefits to Appellant, who was severely injured when he was hit by a drunk driver while walking from a bar to his…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 113746
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals reversing the decision of the district court, which ordered a reduced term of ten years of postrelease supervision after finding that a sentence of lifetime…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 115160
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the portion of the court of appeals decision affirming the district court’s order of restitution because neither the district court nor the court of appeals had the advantage of the decision in…
Date: June 1, 2018
Docket Number: 116146
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Dyron King’s convictions of attempted capital murder, aggravated robbery, and other crimes, holding that substantial evidence supported the jury verdict and there was no discernible error in…
Date: June 1, 2018
Docket Number: 116172
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Appellant’s pro se motion to set aside a “void judgment," holding that Appellant’s counsel’s urging that the court treat Appellant’s motion as one under Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-3210 to…
Date: June 1, 2018
Docket Number: 116550
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for felony murder, rape, and aggravated burglary arising from an attack on 100-year-old M.S. in her home. On appeal, Appellant argued, among other things, that there…
Date: May 25, 2018
Docket Number: 113275
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reaffirmed and applied the holding in State v. Perkins, 811 P.2d 1142 (Kan. 1991), which held that Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-3302 does not mandate that a defendant be present when the discussion concerns…
Date: May 18, 2018
Docket Number: 111897
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of a Court of Appeals panel suppressing evidence obtained through a suspicionless search of the residence of Appellant, a parolee, holding that the suspicionless search of…
Date: May 18, 2018
Docket Number: 113103
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was Husband’s challenge to a 1994 divorce decree that divided Husband’s military retirement benefits as marital property. In 2013, Husband filed a motion to set aside the portion of the 1994…
Date: May 11, 2018
Docket Number: 115309
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, Grandmother failed to meet her burden of establishing that she was an interested party in a stepparent adoption proceeding relating to her grandson. The district court concluded that neither the law nor…
Date: April 27, 2018
Docket Number: 115604
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court erred by sentencing Defendant to lifetime postrelease supervision instead of lifetime parole for his first-degree felony-murder conviction. Defendant was convicted of first-degree felony murder,…
Date: April 20, 2018
Docket Number: 114143
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the district court and court of appeals ruling that a search of Defendant’s van, which resulted in the discovery of drugs and a meth pipe, was not in violation of Defendant’s…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 109259
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the district court’s order obligating Appellant to register as an offender under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-4901 et seq., following Appellant’s conviction…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 109542
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals’ sua sponte dismissal of Appellant’s appeal from the requirement that he register under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-4901 et seq., for…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 109951
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether Defendant had an obligation to register as a violent offender under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-4901 et seq., when the district court never made a finding on the…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 110243
Justia Opinion Summary: The Court of Appeals panel in this case erred by dismissing Appellant’s appeal from the requirement that he register for lifetime under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-4901 et seq., on the…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 111227
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s order that Appellant comply with the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-4901 et seq., holding that the court made the requisite finding on the…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 113300
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions for premeditated first-degree murder and arson but vacated his sentence to life in prison for the murder and to a consecutive thirteen months for the arson, holding that…
Date: April 13, 2018
Docket Number: 113593
Justia Opinion Summary: In deciding whether a plan of restitution is unworkable, courts should evaluate unworkability on a case-by-case basis. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming Appellant’s order of…
Date: April 6, 2018
Docket Number: 108625
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s convictions for two counts of premeditated first-degree murder. The Court held (1) sufficient evidence existed such that a rational fact-finder could have found Defendant guilty…
Date: April 6, 2018
Docket Number: 112638
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for multiple counts of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated robbery and sentence of 570 months’ imprisonment, holding that there was no…
Date: April 6, 2018
Docket Number: 114890
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the decision of the district court dismissing Plaintiff’s wrongful death suit. Plaintiff received workers’ compensation death benefits after her…
Date: April 6, 2018
Docket Number: 118527
Date: March 23, 2018
Docket Number: 111690
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions for murder and aggravated robbery, holding that Appellant’s argument on appeal was not preserved for appellate review. On appeal, Appellant specifically contended that…
Date: March 23, 2018
Docket Number: 112572
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals vacating the district court’s order of restitution, holding that the court of appeals erred in ruling that the restitution statute requires a direct causal…
Date: March 16, 2018
Docket Number: 114705
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal arising from wrongful death lawsuits alleging that Bolton Township and Cowley County negligently failed to provide adequate traffic-control devices on a rural road that abruptly ends at a…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 112361
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court incorrectly sentenced Defendant by misclassifying a 1988 Missouri conviction as a person felony, and thereby, miscalculating Defendant’s criminal history score as C, when it should have been E. The…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 112544
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court incorrectly sentenced Defendant by misclassifying a 2007 Michigan home invasion conviction as a person felony when calculating Defendant’s criminal history score under the revised Kansas Sentencing…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 112841
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for unintentional second-degree murder for shooting and killing his friend while they celebrated New Year’s Eve. The Court held (1) contrary to Defendant’s assertion, the…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 113545
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court incorrectly classified a 1984 first-degree burglary conviction in Oregon as a person felony when calculating Defendant’s criminal history score under the revised Kansas Sentencing Guidelines…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 113881
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court incorrectly classified two prior Florida burglary adjudications as person felonies when calculating Defendant’s criminal history score under the revised Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act. Defendant…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: 115972
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed its holding in State v. Guder, 267 P.3d 751 (Kan. 2012), that the statutory changes to sentencing in the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act, Kan. Stat. Ann. 21-4701 et seq. (KSGA), abrogated the…
Date: March 2, 2018
Docket Number: 111795
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court erred in holding Defendant in contempt of court for invoking his constitutional right to remain silent. Defendant was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to an eighty-three-month prison…
Date: March 2, 2018
Docket Number: 116717
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s summary denial of Appellant’s pro se motion to correct an illegal sentence, holding that the district court’s failure to hold a hearing on the motion with Appellant present…
Date: February 23, 2018
Docket Number: 115828
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder. The district court sentenced Defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fifty years. The Supreme Court vacated the hard fifty sentence…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 107963
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals disposing of Defendant’s appeal exclusively on the ground that Defendant’s constitutional claim was not preserved for appeal. Defendant pled no contest to…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 108576
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the district court convicting Defendant of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and sentencing him to a total prison term of sixty-one months and requiring…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 111550
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Defendant’s postsentencing motion to withdraw pleas. Defendant pleaded guilty and no contest to drug charges in two separate cases. The district court…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 112635
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder, holding that Defendant’s right to be present at a continuance hearing did not cause reversible harm…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 112645
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of battery and other offenses, holding that the trial court committed structural error in…
Date: February 9, 2018
Docket Number: 106981
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for capital murder and his sentence of death. The court held (1) the State did not commit prosecutorial error by objecting during Defendant’s closing…
Date: February 2, 2018
Docket Number: 116408
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion for resentencing, in which Defendant argued that Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013), rendered his hard forty sentence…
Date: February 2, 2018
Docket Number: 116720
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence Defendant received in connection with his guilty plea to two counts of first-degree felony murder. The district court imposed consecutive hard twenty-five life sentences, meaning…
Date: January 26, 2018
Docket Number: 114506
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for first-degree premeditated murder and remanded the case to the district court for resentencing, holding that the district court erred in ordering postrelease…
Date: January 19, 2018
Docket Number: 112131
Justia Opinion Summary: A Kansas court may proceed with a hearing on a Kan. Stat. Ann. 60-1507 motion after a defendant’s term of probation has expired and the defendant has been released from physical custody. In her pro se motion filed…
Date: January 12, 2018
Docket Number: 111640
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals reversing Defendant’s convictions for theft by deception and making false information, holding that there was insufficient evidence supporting the…
Date: January 12, 2018
Docket Number: 118210
Date: January 5, 2018
Docket Number: 112844
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court sentencing Defendant to nine months’ imprisonment, awarding him credit for his nearly twelve months of pretrial confinement, and imposing eighteen months’…
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