A 30-year-old Hutchinson man convicted of having a meth lab after a bench trial still wants a different sentencing judge.
Roberto Rincon was found guilty for manufacture of methamphetamine, possession of ephedrine and lithium metal and anhydrous ammonia with intent to manufacture and possession of drug paraphernalia. The trial was held on stipulated facts and Judge Trish Rose found him guilty.
Now he wants someone else to sentence him in that case by someone other then Judge Rose. He had filed a motion himself without an attorney and it was denied last week by the judge. Apparently, he has filed an affidavit with Administrative Judge Patty Macke-Dick in an effort to get a new sentencing judge, so he wasn’t sentenced as scheduled Friday. When that will happen is not known at this point.
Rincon was also arrested for being in possession of a firearm, a fully automatic machine gun back on March 10, 2012.
Also, during a protection from abuse hearing, Judge Joe McCarville learned he had more weapons and ordered him to turn those weapons over to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department by 10 a-m, the next day. He failed to do so. That led to a search warrant being issued and other guns being seized. Rincon is arguing that law enforcement didn’t have probable cause for that search. That case is still pending according to Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton.