Opinion ID: 2460452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Charges and Pretrial Proceedings

Text: Sellers was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under K.S.A. 21-3504(a)(3)(A). Count 1 was for touching M.R.C.'s breast on or about November 17, 2007. Count 2 was for touching M.R.C.'s pubic area on or about November 17, 2007. Count 3 was for touching M.R.C.'s buttocks around Halloween 2007. At Sellers' December 19, 2007, preliminary hearing, M.R.C. testified. Her story about the touching on the bed around Thanksgiving was the same as that she had told to Yoder. On cross-examination, M.R.C. admitted that she initially dismissed the Halloween touching of her buttocks as accidental. She also admitted that she did not tell anyone about Sellers touching her until she learned about Sellers' and her mother's marriage plans and that this news upset her. About a month after the preliminary hearing, Sellers filed a notice of alibi, stating that he was on duty with the Army National Guard on November 17, 2007, i.e., the date of the incidents supporting Counts 1 and 2. The State filed its first amended complaint the next day, changing the dates for Counts 1 and 2 to on or about November 24, 2007. A week later, Sellers served a motion for psychological evaluation of M.R.C. on the State. In his motion, Sellers argued that there was no evidence corroborating M.R.C.'s story. He further contended that M.R.C. had admitted that she was afraid Sellers' interest in her mother would interfere with her mother's affections for her. Sellers also argued that M.R.C. had demonstrated a lack of veracity by giving investigators two different stories about the circumstances of the Thanksgiving touchings and by changing their date from November 17 to November 24. At Sellers' second preliminary hearing on the first amended complaint, M.R.C. testified that her testimony at the first preliminary hearing was accurate except for the date underlying Count 1 and Count 2. M.R.C. testified that she had remembered a friend's birthday party the night of November 24, which helped her to identify the correct date. At the conclusion of the evidence in the second preliminary hearing, the district judge determined there was probable cause to believe the touching charged in Counts 1 and 2 occurred on November 24. The district judge also took up Sellers' motion for the psychological evaluation of M.R.C. at the second preliminary hearing. Sellers argued that M.R.C. did not tell anyone about the incidents until weeks after they occurred; that there was no corroborating evidence; that M.R.C. and Sellers were having a lot of problems and that M.R.C. had been worried Sellers would take her mother away; and that the first preliminary hearing supported a need for counseling for M.R.C. The State responded by reviewing factors outlined in State v. Price, 275 Kan. 78, 61 P.3d 676 (2003), contending that M.R.C. did not demonstrate mental instability; that she did not demonstrate a lack of veracity; that she had not made similar charges in the past; that Sellers' motion was merely a fishing expedition; that no other reasons existed to submit M.R.C. for evaluation; and that M.R.C. did not demonstrate difficulty with telling the truth. The district judge found M.R.C. credible, having seen her testify at both preliminary hearings. The judge also found that Sellers overstated the friction between himself and M.R.C. and that there was no history of mental instability on the part of M.R.C. The judge thus denied Sellers' motion. Sellers also filed a pretrial motion to the dismiss the charges, arguing that K.S.A. 21-3504(a)(3)(A) and the life imprisonment punishment of Jessica's Law violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the federal Constitution, as well as the federal and state constitutional prohibition on cruel and/or unusual punishment. The district judge presumed the statutes were constitutional and denied the motion. Sellers also moved to dismiss either Count 1 or Count 2 as multiplicitous; the district judge took the motion under advisement.