Becoming a Judge
I am filing to become a magistrate judge because I am ready to contribute my legal and life skills and experiences in a different capacity to the citizens of Sedgwick County. I have spent my entire 34-year career serving the public and Sedgwick County in some capacity and believe I will be the type of judge that the legal community and the public want, need, and deserve.
Judges, whom I have appeared before, and attorneys, whom I have worked with and against, can vouch for my credentials, capabilities, fairness, and ethics.
Early Life
As the son of an Air Force veteran, I have lived in many places but have lived in Kansas for the past 50 years. I spent my childhood in and graduated high school from the great city of Sedan, Kansas.
Like many kids in small towns, I was fortunate to participate in a variety of activities, including baseball, basketball, football, band, Boy Scouts of America, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The values I learned from participating in these activities was invaluable.
I also learned a good work ethic from my dad. He was a blue-collar worker who required me and my brothers to do daily chores, mow lawns, deliver papers, and work at his gas station. Because of this solid foundation, I became class president and class valedictorian and earned a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Kansas.
College and Law School
At KU, I was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and served as the house treasurer during my junior year and the kitchen manager my senior year. I also worked other part-time jobs so I could help pay for my living expenses. In addition to participating in philanthropies supported by the fraternity, I participated in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program. In 1989, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
I also attended law school at KU and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1992. In addition to my general law classes, I participated in the Legal Aid Clinic and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project (now the Project for Innocence) and worked as an intern at the District Attorney’s Office in Wyandotte County. These real-world programs shaped my view of the law and taught me the importance of fairness, compassion, and empathy toward all legal parties. As in college, I balanced my educational responsibilities with part-time jobs to help pay the bills.
Prosecutorial Career
After graduating from law school, I was hired at the District Attorney’s Office for the 18th Judicial District, which is in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. I was employed there for 27.5 years and worked in a variety of capacities.
- From 1992 to 2000, I worked in the appellate division while also occasionally working traffic, involuntary commitment, and driving under influence (DUI) cases.
- From 2000 to 2005, I worked in the juvenile division with a focus on juvenile offender cases. I was also one of the attorneys responsible for determining which adult and juvenile cases would be charged and prosecuted by the office.
- From 2005 to 2013, I was the head of the appellate division and supervised five attorneys and a staff member. The division was responsible for handling appeals filed in any case handled by the office, ranging from traffic appeals to death penalty appeals and including habeas-type appeals.
- From 2013 to 2020, I was the head of the postconviction unit, which addresses claims that prisoners typically raise in an attempt to undermine convictions and sentences following an unsuccessful direct appeal, e.g., ineffective assistance of counsel, illegal sentences, unconstitutional sentences, and DNA testing.
In 2020, while still living in Wichita, I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to become a deputy attorney in Manhattan, Riley County, Kansas. I have been practicing there for the past six and a half years. I have been in charge of handling the appeals cases and post-conviction motions, while also handling the charging of criminal cases in the county, providing pretrial and trial support for our cases, covering court dockets, reviewing search warrants, providing legal education to the Riley County Police Department, and overseeing implementation of a new case management system. Despite my work in Riley County, I have continued to work on the Carr brothers’ cases.
Throughout my legal career, my job responsibilities have required me to provide legal advice to prosecutors regarding criminal law, trial procedure, and trial strategy in hundreds of cases. I have also personally observed and have reviewed and analyzed transcripts from countless trials and hearings. I have also filed briefs and responses and have argued hundreds of cases in the district court, the Kansas Court of Appeals, and the Kansas Supreme Court. These experiences make me uniquely qualified to understand what it takes to be a good judge.
Outside of the office, I was a contributing author for a chapter on capital litigation in the Kansas Bar Association’s Trial Handbook, which has since been discontinued. I have been a presenter for continuing legal education for the Wichita Bar Association, the Kansas Association of Legal Assistants, and the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association. On occasion, I have spoken to students in the Wichita area about legal issues and the legal profession.
Carr Brothers and the Death Penalty
My most notable cases are the Carr brothers’ death penalty cases, which I have been working on in some capacity since 2005. I have submitted briefs and have twice argued before the Kansas Supreme Court in those cases, while also being on the briefs for the cases in the United States Supreme Court. We have successfully litigated the murder convictions in the Kansas Supreme Court and the validity of the death sentences in the Kansas Supreme Court, after the United States Supreme Court reversed the initial decision to vacate the brothers’ death sentences.
In the second round of arguments in the Kansas Supreme Court, despite working in Riley County at the time, I was designated a Special Appointed Prosecutor in Sedgwick County and donated over 200 hours of my time to brief and prepare arguments before the Court. Since that time, I have continued to be involved in the case by being consulted on legal arguments that have resulted in a third appeal in those cases. Recently, there have been requests for clemency on behalf of the brothers and other death row inmates, which I am opposing with the families of the victims.
Judicial Philosophy
I believe that judges should apply the law as written and not legislate from the bench. I believe in strict construction of the Kansas Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. I believe in the value of following case precedent. These beliefs allow attorneys and members of the public to have a sense of order, continuity, and predictability, as they attempt to make educated and measured decisions regarding future behavior.
While personal feelings and emotion regarding a particular issue have no place in applying the law, legal experiences and life experiences can help a judge reach decisions that are fair, equitable, and just within the bounds of Kansas statutes, the Kansas Constitution, the U.S. Constitution, and case precedent.
Community
In my 34 years as a resident of Wichita, have been an active part of the Wichita community. I have been a Cub Scout den leader and Cubmaster, youth baseball coach, and youth basketball coach.
Perhaps my most meaningful community involvement has been my volunteer work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Through serving on the board of directors for eight years (with two of those years as board president), being an assistant cycling coach with the Team in Training program for nearly ten years, and participating in marathons, triathlons, and century rides, I routinely volunteered 10 to 20 hours a week and helped raise millions of dollars to support blood cancer research and to pay for costs incurred by blood cancer patients and their families locally and nationwide.
Family
I am married to my wife, Nikki, and am the father of three adult children–Brendan, Brianna, and Ally, who all graduated from Wichita Collegiate School. I am also the grandfather of three rambunctious little boys. Although my dad and stepmothers have passed, I am fortunate to still have my mother, two brothers, two nieces, and two nephews, who live in Kansas. I also have seven stepsiblings and their families, who live in various parts of the country.