KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man convicted to consecutive “hard 40” sentences for sex crimes involving children had his conviction overturned earlier this month by the Court of Appeals in the State of Kansas.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office charged Josue Manuel Arita with sex crimes involving two children in 2019, but the court of appeals said prosecutors used the wrong definitions when citing which charges to file against Arita.
Specifically, prosecutors charged Arita with “furnishing” the minors for abuse by someone else instead of charging him for engaging in the abuse.
LINK | Read the appeals court opinion
The appeals court says prosecutors presented evidence at the case that implicated Arita specifically.
But because the charges were that Arita “furnished” the charges - evidence of which wasn’t presented at trial - Arita’s conviction and sentence would be overturned.
Additionally, because of double jeopardy, prosecutors would not be able to retry Arita from the same incident.
“At trial, the State presented evidence of the crimes Arita presumably committed, yet it presented no evidence of the crimes he was actually charged with committing,” the appeals court wrote.
During the appeals process, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree’s office argued any issues with the charging documents were “typographical in error.”
The appeals court said laws surrounding such typographical errors didn’t apply in Arita’s case while also going against the second defense made prosecutors.
“Convictions reversed and sentences vacated,” the appeals court wrote in the final line of the ruling.
In a statement to KSHB 41 News on Friday, a Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said the office believed the court should have upheld the conviction but ultimately accepted the court’s ruling.
“The defendant has been in custody for almost four years and is subject to deportation and our understanding is he will be deported,” the prosecutor’s office said.
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