The Kansas Supreme Court has reversed the conviction and sentence for former Inman Police Chief Michael Akins and remanded the case back to McPherson County District Court for a new trial.
A jury had convicted Akins of eight counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count of indecent liberties with a child, one count of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, three counts of indecent solicitation of a child and one count of battery. The district court sentenced him to prison for two consecutive “hard 25″ life sentences under Jessica’s law plus 59-months.
Akins appealed his convictions and sentence, arguing that the prosecutor committed reversible prosecutorial misconduct. He also alleged that the trial court erroneously excluded evidence, failed to properly instruct the jury, committed cumulative error and imposed an unconstitutional sentence.
The decision by the high court was unanimous and held that the prosecutor committed prosecutorial misconduct that denied Akins a fair trial. That arose from statements about facts not in evidence and also added commentary on the credibility of some witnesses.
The case stems from allegations made by the step children in his home in Inman. Based on the children’s allegations and their interviews, the state charged Akins with 21 counts of various crimes. Each count was based on incidents that allegedly occurred between May 15 and December 18, 2009, the date of the couple’s separation.
As for the sentences being unconstitutional, the high court ruled that because a new jury may not convict on the requisite crimes, or, if so, the judge may not impose such sentences, that argument at this time is moot.
The case is remanded back to McPherson County District Court. Any trial will be scheduled after a mandate comes from the high court.