TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction of a juvenile and denied a motion to appeal in another case.
The Kansas Supreme Court says in the case of Appeal No. 121,936: In the Matter of the Wrongful Conviction of M.M., on direct appeal, it affirmed Clay County District Court’s decision which grants the State’s motion to dismiss M.M.’s Petition for Certification of Innocence.
According to Justice Caleb Stegall, the court held the statute’s plain language prohibits claimants from recovering for wrongful juvenile adjudications due to the fact that they are not criminal convictions.
The Court said in the case of Appeal No. 121,949: State of Kansas v. Shelbert Smith, it affirmed the decision of Sedgwick Co. District Court which denied Smith’s motion for leave to appeal his convictions out of time. It said Smith had appealed the district court’s denial of his motions to appeal out of time twice before. It said under the third exception decided in State v. Ortiz, it had twice before reversed the district court’s decision and remanded the matter for further consideration.
This time, the Court said Smith challenged the district court’s credibility determination regarding his third Ortiz exception claim and its conclusion that newly raised arguments were outside the scope of the Supreme Court’s previous appellate mandates. It said it unanimously decided the newly raised issues were outside the scope of previous mandates, which were stated in specific terms that limited the district court to consider only Smith’s credibility in the context of the Ortiz exception.
The Court said it also unanimously affirmed the district court’s credibility determination, which was supported by substantial competent evidence.
