Source: newsfromthestates.com 9/23/24 The Kansas Supreme Court reversed a Saline County judge’s decision to suppress a confession despite exaggerated claims by detectives that a computer voice stress test was 100% accurate and proved a defendant lied about his innocence in an alleged sexual abuse case. A split state Supreme Court affirmed the 2022 conclusion of the Kansas Court of Appeals that an earlier decision by Saline County Judge Jared Johnson incorrectly ruled Phillip Jason Garrett’s confession was coerced by Salina Police Department detectives in violation of 5th and 14th amendments…
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KS: After investigation into numerous felonies, Kansas AG charges prosecutor with two misdemeanors
Source: newsfromthestates.com 8/9/24 TOPEKA — The Kansas Attorney General’s Office charged a rural Kansas prosecutor with two financial misdemeanors, but not alleged sexual extortion or other felonies that local and state law enforcement investigated. A complaint filed Thursday in state court accuses Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston of violating the Retailers’ Sales Tax Act in 2021 and misuse of public funds in 2019. Thuston has been the county attorney, an elected position, since 2012. Thuston didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. Neosho County Sheriff Greg Taylor…
Read MoreKS: Protecting kids is job one, but this Kansas proposal would just create new criminals | Opinion
Source: kansascity.com 2/20/23 When something horrific happens to a child, the impulse is to take every action necessary to ensure it never happens to any child anywhere again. That tendency is understandable and often praiseworthy — but there are times it can also be destructive. So it goes with “Lailah’s Law,” a bill now under consideration in the Kansas House. The legislation is named for a 7-year-old Wichita girl who was assaulted and nearly killed in 2017 by Corbin Breitenbach, who had recently been paroled on a previous conviction of…
Read MoreKS: Judge tosses out sex offender’s lawsuit against Kansas sheriff
Source: fourstateshomepage.com 12/7/22 A convicted sex offender’s lawsuit against a Kansas sheriff for ruining his “good reputation” was dismissed by a federal judge. Kirk ____, of Grove, Okla. filed the federal lawsuit against Danny Smith, Crawford County Sheriff, and Lisa Luskar, Crawford County Court Clerk, alleging that they caused false statements to be made on Facebook about him, harming his reputation and causing him emotional distress. United States District Judge Julie A. Robinson dismissed ____’s lawsuit without prejudice, meaning he can refile his lawsuit later. Her ruling centered on…
Read MoreKS: Concern raised with registered sex offender coaching youth sports team
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Source: kwch.com 12/6/22 Can a registered sex offender coach children in Kansas? That question popped up after a concerned parent emailed FactFinder 12 about a registered sex offender coaching a youth sports team. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said there is no criminal law in Kansas that prevents a convicted sex offender from coaching in youth sports. With the coach not doing anything illegal by coaching, 12 News is not naming him nor the team. Bennett did say, “There may be conditions of parole or probation that prohibit ‘unsupervised…
Read MoreKS: Kansas Supreme Court Holds Registration Violation is a Strict Liability Crime
Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 7/31/22 Not knowing you have to register something or not having the mental capacity to understand how to register is not a defense to a registration violation according to the Supreme Court of Kansas. A person required to register in Kansas was convicted of a failure to register offense. He was required to report quarterly, every May, August, November, and February, plus changes.On September 18, he went in to report a change of phone number. He went in again on October 9 to report an address change. But…
Read MoreKS: Internet child sex crimes convictions will require registration as offenders in Kansas
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Source: wibw.com 5/5/22 TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – A bill to allow those convicted of drug offenses to seek relief from the offender registration act and require those convicted of internet child sex crimes to register as a sex offender has been signed by the Kansas Governor. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says on Thursday, April 5, she signed Senate Bill 366, which will create a way for drug offenders to seek relief from the Kansas Offender Registration Act and allows expungement of the offense if relief is granted. The bill also…
Read MoreKS: These two child porn crimes don’t require sex offender registration. A Kansas bill would change that.
Source: cjonline.com 2/8/22 Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is pushing for lawmakers to require people convicted of certain child pornography crimes to register as sex offenders. “This is a matter of the law needing to catch up with technology,” Schmidt said in a statement. “Sadly, as the methods of distributing visual depictions of children being sexually abused have expanded, so too must the legal tools available to respond to that sort of illegal behavior that harms kids. This added tool is needed to help prevent more kids from becoming victims.” Senate…
Read MoreKS: Offender registry changes needed in Kansas
Do offender registries make us safer? The Kansas Legislature is tackling that question in the current session with two bills that would reform Kansas’ increasingly complex offender registration requirements. Full Editorial
Read MoreKS: Bill outlaws lowering sentences for some sex offenders in Kansas
[kshb.com – 5/1/19] Kansas lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would prevent judges from reducing sentences for adult sex offenders because a child victim was the “aggressor.” Events that unfolded in a Leavenworth County courtroom in December inspired the change after 67-year-old Raymond Soden , who was charged with soliciting teen girls online for sex, received a reduced sentence. Despite a standard sentence for such crimes of 14 years, Judge Michael Gibbins sentenced Soden to fewer than six years, saying the 13- and 14-year-old victims were “aggressors” in the case.…
Read MoreKS: Salina art organization directors resign amid concern over sex offender volunteer
[kake.com – 8/3/18] SALINA, Kan. (KAKE) – The SPARK Artist Resource Exchange was supposed to be an organization of artists who worked on projects across Salina. Instead, it’s become a controversy after a Facebook posts about one of its directors who is also a sex offender. The resource center is in the heart of downtown Salina. In the last several days, posts on Facebook revealed that program director ______ is a convicted sex offender. Parents were worried that he had contact with children. ______ was convicted in 2012 of possessing…
Read MoreKS: Gov. Jeff Colyer signs bill to compensate wrongfully convicted in Kansas
[hutchnews.com 5/15/18] KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Gov. Jeff Colyer stood on Tuesday in the modest sanctuary of Mount Zion Church of God in Christ to belatedly draw the hands of justice closer to Lamonte McIntyre, Richard Jones, Floyd Bledsoe and any other Kansan wrongfully convicted of a crime. Bledsoe, of Burrton, along with the other men spent a minimum of 16 years in institutions operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections for serious offenses they didn’t commit. Each was part of a coordinated effort to build bipartisan support in the…
Read MoreKS: Changes to juvenile offender registration shelved
[gctelegram.com] TOPEKA — A Kansas House bill contemplating changes to juvenile offender registration has been delayed so that it can be reviewed by the Judicial Council. The council will review the legislation and make recommendations on how to proceed, Rep. J. Russell Jennings, R-Lakin, said during a committee meeting last week. No legislative action is expected this session. Last month, three people spoke in favor of the measure, which proposed treating juvenile sex offenders the same as adult sex offenders in terms of registration requirements. Information on adult sex offenders…
Read MoreKS: Convicted of a Drug Crime, Registered with Sex Offenders
[themarshallproject.org] By Maurice Chammah In Kansas, even many minor drug offenders must appear on the state’s public registry. A new bill would change that. Amid the farm animals and food stalls at the Kansas State Fair last September, Amy Byers came upon a booth run by the state’s Bureau of Investigation. There was a computer you could use to search your address and find out if you live near a sex offender. You could also search by name. When her friends began joking that she should type in her own…
Read MoreKS: Kansas bill would reveal names of juvenile sex offenders
[kake.com] TOPEKA, Kan. (KAKE) – The family of a Newton mother and daughter who were killed last year is pushing for a new law that would reveal the names of child sex offenders. Keith Hawkins was sentenced this month to life without the possibility of parole for the deaths of 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and 4-year-old Zaylynn Paz. In a letter to Runyon’s family, Hawkins said he harmed the child first. When Hawkins was 12 years old, he was convicted of indecent liberties with a 5-year-old girl. But because he was…
Read MoreKS: Can Registries Cover Too Many Crimes? Kansas Legislation Suggests A Rollback
Junkie logic brought an addict to the doorsteps of a Topeka woman once convicted of selling cocaine. The addict was looking to buy, and Kansas’ online database of criminal offenders has a handy geographic search tool that lets users pull up the names, crimes and addresses of people who live within a few miles of their homes. It’s meant to boost public safety, but the Kansas Sentencing Commission says other consequences come with publishing the past transgressions of nearly 20,000 Kansans. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Wichita YMCA to implement daily sex offender registry checks
The Greater Wichita YMCA is implementing a new sex offender check system after a Kid Zone employee was accused of sexually assaulting a child. In an e-mail to members, Wichita YMCA CEO and President Ronn McMahon announced the YMCA will implement daily sex offender registry checks. McMahon said the system will notify daily of any staff member, guest or participant with a change in their status. Full Article Related http://ksn.com/2018/02/07/ymca-guests-weigh-in-on-sex-offender-registry-check-for-all-members-employees/
Read MoreKS: Kansas Supreme Court divided over offender registration law
The Kansas Supreme Court is divided over whether a law requiring criminal offenders to register with local authorities after prison represents extra punishment. A 4-3 majority has concluded that registration for sex, drug and violent offenders is not extra punishment. Its latest decision came Thursday in the appeal of Djuan Richardson. He was convicted of selling cocaine in Sedgwick County in 2003 and pleaded guilty to violating the offender registration law in 2011. He later sought unsuccessfully to withdraw that plea. Full Article Related https://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?n=107,786%20&s=KS&d=107522
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