A four year old Riley County marijuana possession case that reached the Kansas Court of Appeals level, resulted in an unpublished opinion Friday.
The case involves a St. George woman from May of 2011. Aliyah Stephens challenged her felony conviction for possession of marijuana and the resulting sentence on the grounds that her waiver of her constiutional right to a jury trial was infirm. The State Court of Appeals found, with one dissenting opinion, that the Riley County District Court did not adequately inform Stephens of her jury trial right, adding the district court’s brief discussion at Stephens’ arraignment was inadequate.
The dissenting opinion maintains the waiver of the jury trial issue is not properly before the Appeals Court in this case.
The Kansas Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and sentence and remanded the matter with directions.
