Local Cases To Be Heard In Appeals Court

A three-judge panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments July 19 and 20, at the Sherman County Courthouse, 813 Broadway, Goodland.

Judges G. Joseph Pierron, Jr., Lawrence; Patrick D. McAnany, Overland Park; and Steve Leben, Fairway, will hear oral argument in seven civil and criminal cases at dockets that convene at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, and at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 20.

Cases to be heard in Goodland include:

9 a.m.  Tuesday July 19, 2016
No. 113,292: State of Kansas v. Junior Sanchez, appeal from Seward County

A jury convicted Junior Sanchez on one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery after he reportedly called friends over to his house to attack two people. The court imposed a 41-month sentence. On appeal, he raises five challenges. He contends that the district court erred by dismissing a potential juror for cause and that the court failed to follow proper procedures to make sure that the prosecutor wasn’t using peremptory challenges (which allow jurors to be excluded without a specific reason) to eliminate the potential jurors who were Hispanic. He also argues that there was insufficient evidence supporting the conviction, prosecutorial misconduct occurred when the state misrepresented significant facts during closing argument, and the district court violated his constitutional rights by giving him a sentence greater than the minimum guidelines without presenting aggravating facts to the jury for a finding.

1:30 p.m.Tuesday  July 19, 2016

No. 113,563: Douglas R. Peters v. Deseret Cattle Feeders, LLC, appeal from Haskell County

Douglas Peters worked for Hitch Feeders, a cattle feeding operation. In 2010, Deseret Cattle Feeders, LLC, purchased Hitch Feeders. Peters claims that in meetings leading up to the closing of the sale, Deseret represented to Hitch Feeders’ employees that if they would stay on and work at the feed yard, their employment would be secure. Also, according to Peters, Deseret indicated there would be no layoffs and that the employees would continue to be employed by Deseret as long as they continued to perform their jobs. Peters said that Hitch Feeders offered a severance package if the employees chose not to work for Deseret. Peters took the job offer from Deseret and did not take advantage of the severance package. In June 2011, Peters was terminated by Deseret due to a reduction in workforce. Peters sued Deseret for breach of an employment contract and under a legal theory called promissory estoppel (under which a promise may be enforced, even without a contract, where a party has been harmed by reasonably relying on that promise). The district court granted summary judgment to Deseret. On appeal, Peters claims (1) that the district court erred in finding that no employment contract was formed and that he was an “at-will” employee and (2) that the district court erred in ruling against him on the promissory estoppel claim because he relied on representations by Deseret of secure employment when he rejected Hitch Feeder’s severance offer.