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Judge takes argument in Jessica’s Law case under advisement

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HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After the Kansas Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and sentence for a 26-year-old Hutchinson man convicted in a child sex case and gave a life sentence under Jessica’s Law, Salvador Araujo-Gutierrez is now seeking relief from that sentence by filing a civil motion in District Court.

He was found guilty of one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. However, the indecent liberties count was an alternate count to the rape, meaning he could only be sentenced on one. Jessica’s law convictions call for a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. The encounters occurred between 2006 and 2011.

He has filed what is called a “habeas corpus” motion in the case and a hearing was held on that court filing Monday.

His hired attorney, Derek Miller out of Liberal, argued over ineffective counsel during trial, that being Kelly Driscoll, who at that time was with the local Public Defender’s Office.

Driscoll, who now practices law in Johnson County, took the stand to answer questions over what Miller sees as errors at trial, including bringing up a prior bad act of stealing tools from a family member, but also the fact that he may have been in this country illegally.

Driscoll had trouble recalling the specifics of why she did certain things at trial, which was held back in June of 2013. What she could recall was that she based her decisions on trial strategy.

Judge Tim Chambers took it all under advisement at this point, agreeing to look over the transcript of the trial and allowing the defense 30 days to present him with a written brief over the things they want him to review. He also allowed the state 30 days to then respond.

Judge Chambers said in court he would then review the case and make a ruling on the civil motion.


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