State v. Cook

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Allegrucci, J.:

Kenneth M. Cook appeals his jury conviction of one count of second-degree murder and his sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment.

For the 1992 murder of Charles Duty, Cook initially was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and given a “hard 40” sentence. This court affirmed the conviction. State v. Cook, 259 Kan. 370, 913 P.2d 97 (1996). On appeal from denial of his petition for habeas corpus, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confrontation had been denied because the State had…