TOPEKA—The Hon. Preston A. Pratt, chief judge of the 17th judicial district who sits in Norton County, has been appointed to sit with the Supreme Court Tuesday, October 22, to hear oral argument in a case.
After hearing oral argument, Pratt will join Supreme Court justices in their deliberations and opinion drafting.
“I am pleased Judge Pratt is willing to take time from his duties in Norton, Decatur, Graham, Osborne, Phillips and Smith counties to come to Topeka to sit with the Supreme Court,” said Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss.
Pratt, who has served as chief judge of the 17th judicial district since 2011, said he is looking forward to the opportunity to sit with the state’s high court.
“I am thrilled to receive this invitation and eager to sit with the Supreme Court to hear oral argument and to deliberate a case,” Pratt said.
Before he was appointed district judge, Pratt practiced law in Oberlin. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law.
All Supreme Court oral arguments are webcast live through the Watch Supreme Court Live! link in the right-hand column of the Kansas Judicial Branch website at www.kscourts.org.
The case Pratt will hear is scheduled at 9 a.m. Wednesday, October 22:
Appeal Nos. 108,876 and 108,877: In the Matter of E.J.D.
Leavenworth County: (Petition for Review) On September 4, 2009, E.J.D. entered a no contest plea to aggravated robbery in case number 2008 JV 278. Two counts of criminal threat were dismissed. The state withdrew a pending motion to have E.J.D. prosecuted as an adult. The parties jointly moved for E.J.D. to be subject to extended jurisdiction juvenile prosecution. The district court agreed. After determining there was an adequate factual basis for the aggravated robbery charge, the district court found E.J.D. to be a Violent Offender II. The court imposed a juvenile sentence of 51 months and an adult sentence of 94 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections. The court ordered the adult sentence stayed on the conditions that E.J.D. not violate the provisions of the juvenile sentence and not commit a new offense.
Also on September 4, 2009, E.J.D. entered a no contest plea to battery on a juvenile detention officer in case number 2009 JV 11. A second count of battery on a juvenile detention officer was dismissed. The court found E.J.D. to be a Serious Offender I. The court imposed a juvenile sentence of 36 months and an adult sentence of 32 months in the KDOC. The court ordered the sentence in JV 11 to run concurrent with JV 278, and the court ordered the adult sentence stayed on the conditions that E.J.D. not violate the provisions of the juvenile sentence and not commit a new offense.
On August 4, 2011, the state filed a motion to revoke the stay of E.J.D.'s adult sentence in both JV 278 and JV 11. In its motion, the State alleged that E.J.D. had battered another resident at the Juvenile Detention Center. The state filed an amended motion to revoke the stay of the adult sentence, alleging an additional count of battery. E.J.D.'s counsel moved for a durational departure sentence in both cases. The state argued that a downward departure was not permitted in an extended jurisdiction juvenile case. The district court found that E.J.D. had committed a new offense on two occasions and revoked the stay of the imposition of the adult sentence.
E.J.D. appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's decision, finding that there was adequate evidence that E.J.D. committed a new offense and that although E.J.D. was entitled to file a motion for downward departure, the motion was untimely and could not be considered by the district court. The Supreme Court granted E.J.D.'s Petition for Review.
Issues on appeal are whether, once the stay is lifted, the adult criminal court system has continuing jurisdiction and, therefore, K.S.A. 21-4718 [now K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 21-6817] would apply to allow a defense motion for downward departure, and whether there was insufficient evidence that the juvenile committed a new offense.