Supreme Court of Kansas

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s judgment, holding that the expert testimony on suicide risk, the admission of audio and video excerpts, and the exclusion of lay testimony were proper, while finding that the prosecutor’s flippant closing remarks and the admission of sex‑doll purchase evidence…

The Kansas Supreme Court held that a district court cannot impose a Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act prison sentence while simultaneously ordering a commitment under K.S.A. 22‑3430, vacated both the commitment and the 130‑month sentence as illegal, and remanded the case for resentencing.

The Kansas Supreme Court held that a defendant’s age, when it triggers mandatory lifetime post‑release supervision, is a fact subject to the Apprendi rule and that Jorge Contreras validly waived his jury‑trial right regarding that fact.

The Kansas Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and the district court, holding that the Kansas Tort Claims Act does not abolish the public‑duty doctrine, that the doctrine does not bar Martin’s claim because a city’s street‑maintenance duty is owed to a specific class of street users, that genuine factual…

The Kansas Supreme Court answered a certified question on the meaning of “marketable” under the marketable condition rule in oil‑and‑gas leases. It held that the rule is not categorical and must be applied case‑by‑case, giving effect to express lease terms first and using the rule only to fill gaps.

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the district court's denial of Barnes' motion to suppress, holding that the plain‑view doctrine applied because probable cause existed to believe the smoked cigar stub was contraband, and that Barnes voluntarily consented to a full search of his person within the scope of that consent.

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals and the district court, holding that the jury instructions on the standard of care, the contentions instruction, and the verdict form were legally appropriate and did not mislead the jury.

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of a set‑off claim, holding that the confessed judgment arising from the settlement agreement is not a debt owed to Lorine Mueller’s estate because the agreement, under Nebraska law, bars any collection—including set‑off.

The court affirmed the denial of Shields’ second petition for postconviction DNA testing. It held that res judicata did not bar the petition, but Shields did not adequately allege that new techniques would make retesting previously tested material more accurate and probative; although his allegations concerning…

The court affirmed Cavitt’s convictions, concluding that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, supported the felony-murder, kidnapping, and aggravated-burglary verdicts.

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed Banks’ convictions, concluding that the district court properly admitted a statement as an excited utterance and properly excluded an unrelated police-shooting report.

The Supreme Court of Kansas held that the Fourth Amendment's prohibitions do not apply exclusively to law-enforcement officers, so the conduct of the firefighters and EMS personnel who responded to a welfare check counted in the totality-of-the-circumstances inquiry into whether Nicole Willard was seized.

The court reversed Sims’ three convictions for failing to pay KORA registration fees, with all five participating justices agreeing on the result. The justices did not share a rationale: three would address the statute’s substantive due process validity, while two would treat the State’s failure to timely submit the…

The court affirmed Brown's convictions and sentence, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his motions for a mistrial and new trial, and did not err in redacting irrelevant portions of a defense exhibit.

The Supreme Court of Kansas exercised its inherent authority to correct its own prior opinion and mandate in this case, deleting the erroneous language that had reversed Borders' convictions and substituting language that reversed only the denial of her presentencing motions and vacated her sentence pending a new…

The court affirmed West's convictions arising from two firearm-related incidents, holding that the charges were properly joined, the challenged jury instructions were legally and factually appropriate, and the exclusion of brass-knuckles evidence did not violate his right to present a self-defense theory.

The court held that the district court erred as a matter of law by refusing to recognize the defendant's lack of significant prior criminal activity as a statutory mitigating circumstance in ruling on his departure motion.

The court affirmed Manczuk's convictions, holding that his statute-of-limitations arguments were unpreserved because he asserted a materially different legal theory after trial and could not avoid waiver by characterizing the defense as a jurisdictional or sufficiency challenge.

The court affirmed the denial of Dotson's motion for postconviction DNA testing of swabs from a rifle involved in the murder. It held that Dotson failed to show the requested testing could produce noncumulative, exculpatory evidence because the proposed DNA results would not establish a disputed material fact relevant…

The court held that a preliminary-hearing judge may determine only whether probable cause supports the charged offenses and may not resolve affirmative defenses. It concluded the evidence supported binding Ross over on both child-abuse counts, rejected his vagueness argument as unpreserved, and held that the…

The court affirmed Barker's convictions for first-degree premeditated murder and related weapon offenses. It held that the defense did not invite the omission of lesser included offense instructions, and that the evidence supported instructions on several lesser offenses, but Barker failed to show clear error because…

The court affirmed concurrent hard 50 sentences imposed for two premeditated first-degree murders. It held that the district court applied the correct standards when considering the defendant's proposed mitigating circumstances and reasonably rejected a departure to concurrent hard 25 sentences.

The court held that the search-warrant affidavit provided the issuing judge with a substantial basis to find probable cause under the totality of the circumstances. It ruled that the lower courts improperly evaluated the affidavit's facts in isolation rather than considering their combined weight, and it affirmed the…

The court affirmed the denial of Alford's motion to correct an illegal sentence. It held that an alleged error in the handling of his direct appeal did not make his sentence illegal because the appellate-review statute did not govern the crime, punishment category, or criminal-history classification.

The court affirmed summary judgment against Arita under Kansas's wrongful-conviction statute. It held that the statute's reference to the "crime or crimes" is ambiguous when applied to alternative-means crimes, but that the phrase refers to the overall crime rather than a particular alternative means.

The court held that Miller violated the confidentiality rule by knowingly mentioning a client's name in the context of controlled buys, but that the evidence did not clearly and convincingly establish a concurrent conflict of interest or dishonest conduct.

The court affirmed the denial of the Carr brothers' post-mandate motions for sentencing because their appellate mandates finally affirmed their capital convictions and death sentences without leaving unresolved capital-sentencing issues.

The court held that Brown's sentence was complete and therefore not illegal because the pronounced "hard 40" sentence implicitly included parole eligibility after 40 years, and the omitted advice about appellate rights was collateral to the sentence.

The court held that Allen lacked counsel, without a valid waiver, at the March 2018 competency hearing and the May 2018 motions hearing, both critical stages of the criminal proceeding.

The Kansas Supreme Court held that acreage in property owned by tenants in common counts toward a zoning protest petition under K.S.A. 12-757(f)(1) only if all tenants in common sign the petition.

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' reversal of Boese's conviction, holding that a defendant cannot be convicted of a crime that was not charged. The Court rejected the State's alternative‑means argument and required the conviction to be reversed and the sentence vacated.

The Kansas Supreme Court held that the district court's November 2023 dismissal order was an adjudication on the merits and became a final, appealable judgment when the court dismissed the remaining claims in June 2024.

The court held that the district court improperly supplemented the premeditation instruction with incomplete language, but the error was harmless because the evidence overwhelmingly supported premeditation.

The court affirmed Cooper's felony theft conviction, holding that his stipulated facts sufficiently established the stolen vehicle's ownership for purposes of the theft statute. Because the trial proceeded on stipulated facts, the court reviewed sufficiency de novo, considered reasonable inferences from the…

The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals, holding that a district court erred by relying on evidence without first ruling on a timely objection to its admissibility.

The court held that attorney fees incurred in prosecuting a slander-of-title action are not recoverable as special damages under Kansas's American Rule absent statutory or contractual authorization.

The Kansas Supreme Court held that attorney Luann K. Trummel violated multiple Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct and the Supreme Court Rule 210, and imposed a published censure as discipline. The court based its findings on clear and convincing evidence and rejected the parties' recommendation of a lesser sanction.

The court affirmed Kelly's convictions for felony murder, aggravated burglary, and aggravated assault. It held that sufficient evidence supported the aggravated-burglary elements requiring unauthorized entry and intent to commit aggravated assault, and that the prosecutor committed no reversible error and the hospital…

The court affirmed Smith’s resentencing. It declined to review his unpreserved constitutional jury-trial claims because review under an exception is prudential and the governing law foreclosed relief; his jail-credit claim was moot because a nunc pro tunc entry had already awarded the disputed credit.

The court affirmed Montgomery's convictions for premeditated murder, attempted premeditated murder, and aggravated assault. It assumed, without deciding, that the trial court should have instructed on imperfect self-defense, but held any error harmless because the evidence overwhelmingly showed Montgomery pursued and…