TOPEKA — Judge Mike Ward of the 13th Judicial District has been appointed to sit with the state Supreme Court Wednesday, April 30, to hear oral arguments in four cases.
After hearing oral arguments, Ward will join Supreme Court justices in their deliberations and opinion drafting.
Ward has been a 13th Judicial District Court judge, serving Butler, Greenwood and Elk counties, since 1999. He presided in the district’s only death penalty case to date, State v. Scott Cheever.
Ward has served on the Pattern Jury Instructions for Kansas criminal and civil committees to review law changes and incorporate those changes into jury instructions for all Kansas district courts. He currently chairs the PIK committees.
In 2012, he served with a Kansas Court of Appeals panel and helped write six opinions, two of which were published.
Ward graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law, after which he worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Kansas City in the enforcement division. After that, he entered private practice in El Dorado, his home town. From 1983, until taking the bench in 1999, he served as assistant county attorney and as Butler County Attorney.
All Supreme Court oral arguments are webcast live through the Watch Supreme Court Live! link in the right-hand column of the Kansas Judicial Branch website at http://www.kscourts.org.
The four cases Ward will hear beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, are as follows:
Appeal No. 105,245: Golden Rule Insurance Co. v. Robert M. Tomlinson, Assistant Commissioner of Insurance
Shawnee County: (Petition for Review of Court of Appeals Decision) Appeal from a finding by the Commissioner of Insurance that Golden Rule Insurance Company violated two provisions of the Kansas Unfair Trade Practices Act. The district court upheld the agency action; petitioner appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed, and the Supreme Court granted respondent Insurance Department's petition for review. Issues on review are whether, under Kansas statute and regulations, an insurance company is bound by the acts and representations of its appointed agents; whether, under Kansas case law, McClary was an agent of Golden Rule and the company is bound by his acts and representations; and whether Golden Rule's refusal to investigate and to attempt settlement was committed "flagrantly and in conscious disregard" of its duties under K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 40-2404(9)(d) and K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 40-2404(9)(f) and "as a general business practice."
Appeal No. 109,083: Jayden Ryan Burgardt v. Lacey Rose Willinger
Finney County: (Petition for Review of Court of Appeals Decision) Petitioner father filed for custody and support orders regarding minor child. Following a hearing, the district court issued a detailed parenting plan of shared custody until August 2015, when the father would be designated the custodial parent. The respondent mother appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed and vacated the decision. The Supreme Court granted petitioner father's petition for review. Issue on review is whether the district court erred making future custody and residency findings when there was no evidence to support the best interest of the child three years hence.
Appeal No. 107,905: State v. Gabriel DeLatorre
Ford County: (Criminal Appeal) DeLatorre was convicted by jury, after a second trial, of one count of felony murder, resulting from the child's death during the commission of, or during an attempt to commit, the crime of abuse of a child. He was sentenced to a hard-20 term for the felony murder conviction and a consecutive 57- month term for the abuse of a child conviction. He appeals. Issues are whether the district court erred refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of reckless second-degree murder, whether the state presented no evidence that would have allowed a rational fact finder to conclude the DeLatorre "inflicted cruel and inhuman bodily punishment upon" the child, whether the district court failed to give a unanimity instruction, and whether the state committed prosecutorial misconduct during its opening statements and closing arguments at both trials.
Appeal No. 106,329: State v. Tynisha Story
Wyandotte County: (Criminal Appeal) Story was convicted by jury of first-degree murder and sentenced to a hard-25 term. She appeals. Issues are whether district court erred admitting prejudicial and irrelevant evidence, erred in failing to give a limiting instruction regarding evidence of other crimes or bad acts, erred in failing to give a limiting instruction regarding evidence of prior crimes or bad acts presented, and erred in failing to give a lesser included instruction for voluntary manslaughter. Also, whether the state violated Story's right to a fair trial and committed reversible misconduct during closing argument, and whether the combination of errors deprived Story of her right to a fair trial.