Citing prosecutorial misconduct, the Kansas Supreme Court has reversed 15 convictions and two consecutive life sentences of ex-Inman, Kansas, police chief Mike Akins Jr.
In 2009, Akins was accused of molesting, inappropriately touching and soliciting his stepchildren. Akins was convicted and sentenced in February 2011. The court remanded the case for a new trial.
Akins’ attorney, Dan Monnat, issued a response to the court’s ruling, noting that the court reversed the convictions due to Assistant Attorney General Christine Ladner committing “multiple acts of misconduct at trial. Specifically, the prosecutor posed as her own unsworn psuedo-psychological expert at trial, she misstated the law, and she expressed her personal opinion about the case, both praising the children who testified and calling Mr. Akins a liar.”
Akins denied all allegations at trial, and his defense argued that the allegations came out after Akins broke up with the children’s mother.
“The Court’s message to prosecutors in reversing Mr. Akins’s convictions is simple: If the State wants to send anyone to prison for life on grounds of sexual abuse, it must have the evidence to back up its accusations. Courtroom theatrics are not evidence,” Monnat wrote in a press release. “Mr. Akins is confident that he will be found not guilty at any new trial.”
Monnat added in the release that the Akins’ decision was “the fourth reversal of a life sentence for sex offenses under Jessica’s Law.”
Read full article here
Read the Court’s Opinion here
The Pitch – By Justin Kendall