State v. Powell

The opinion of the court was delivered by Biles, J.:

The State challenges a Court of Appeals decision reversing a district court's denial of a request for downward departure from the hard 25 life sentence under Jessica's Law. A divided panel held the sentence must be vacated and reconsidered because the record was ambiguous as to whether the district court weighed evidence about an uncharged prior molestation against defendant's evidence in mitigation. State v. Powell , 53 Kan.App.2d 758, 762, 393 P.3d 174 (2017). We disagree with the panel majority's rationale and reverse its decision because…