HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 39-year-old man serving time for raping a 13-year-old who tried to get relief from his life sentence and was denied that relief by District Judge Trish Rose has now been denied any relief from the Kansas Court of Appeals.
Cornelio Salazar-Moreno was convicted of rape, two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and adultery. The crimes occurred in late 2007 and early 2008.
Salazar-Moreno was ultimately sentenced to three concurrent life sentences under Jessica’s Law, meaning he’s serving one life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
In his appeal, he claimed trial error in the admission of evidence and failure to grant several mistrial motions. Those claims were rejected by the Kansas Court of Appeals and the verdicts were upheld.
He filed a Habeas Corpus motion last year and was denied any relief by Judge Trish Rose in 2015. He appealed and they ruled against him on the felony counts, however the did dismiss the misdemeanor count of adultery.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder says he argued ineffective counsel and Judge Rose ruled in his favor on that point, however she also found it wouldn’t have effected the outcome of the trial.
Schroeder says the defendant will now ask for a review in front of the Kansas Supreme Court.