Two Riley County cases were affirmed by the Kansas Court of Appeals this last Friday. One involved State v. Horne, with Levertis Horne, involving a home invasion case in October of 2012, resulting in convictions for aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, and two counts of attempted aggravated robbery. Horne describes the case as a drug deal gone wrong.
Horne raised two claims involving the jury instructions, saying the district court failed to instruct the jury with the applicable definition of “knowingly” committing the aggravated battery. The State concedes the district court’s error but argues it was harmless. Second, Horne argued the district court failed to give the lesser included offense instruction of reckless aggravated battery. However, the higher court found the trial court properly refused to give an instruction on the lesser included offense of reckless aggravated battery and affirmed the Riley County District Court’s actions.
The other case was State v. Roberts, involving Tracy Shane Roberts. Roberts was convicted of 30 counts of theft from his employer and appealed the district court’s decision to impose an upward dispositional departure to prison resulting in the denial of his motion for probation. The Kansas Court of Appeals found the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing the upward dispositional departure to prison and denying Roberts’ motion for probation.
Roberts also argued the district court violated his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution when it used his prior convictions to enhance his sentence without proving those convictions to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. However the higher court found the district court properly used Roberts’ criminal history to establish his sentence and affirmed the lower court’s ruling.
Roberts’ conviction involved theft from the Flint Hills Builders Association while serving as Executive Director of the group. He was sentenced in October of 2014. He was taken into custody in July of 2013.
