Supreme Court of Kansas, 2018

The court affirmed Ingham's conviction for criminal use of explosives. It held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by permitting references to the device as a bomb, pipe bomb, or improvised explosive device; any error in admitting an officer's legal characterization was harmless; and the challenged…

The court held that a colorable actual-innocence claim may serve as a gateway to overcome the time and successive-motion bars applicable to a postconviction motion. Because Beauclair presented recantations and an explanation for an allegedly false confession that could satisfy the applicable standard, the court…

The court affirmed Barlett's conviction for criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle under an aiding-and-abetting theory. It held that a defendant is not categorically barred from asserting self-defense merely because the charged offense is a forcible felony, but the evidence here did not support the…

The court affirmed Butler’s convictions for felony murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, and attempted aggravated robbery. It held that the conspiracy statute and the instruction presented a single sequence of overt acts rather than alternative means, and that knowingly was the legally appropriate culpable…

The court affirmed Thomas' aggravated-battery conviction, rejecting her confrontation, prosecutorial-error, and cumulative-error claims. It held that KORA registration is not part of a criminal sentence and that, absent the required court-made deadly-weapon finding, no registration duty arose; the Court of Appeals…

The court reversed Chandler's two premeditated first-degree murder convictions because the prosecutor repeatedly presented unsupported and false assertions, most significantly that a judge had issued a protection-from-abuse order against Chandler and that she violated it.

The court held that restitution for damages resulting from a defendant's crime does not require a direct causal connection, but must satisfy traditional proximate-cause principles of cause-in-fact and legal causation.

The court held that Wetrich's Missouri second-degree burglary conviction was not comparable to Kansas burglary of a dwelling because the Missouri offense had broader intent and structure elements.