Thursday is extremely busy in Lyon County District Court.
At 9 am, Jason Harden is in court for a resentencing. Harden was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after his conviction for sexual encounters with a then 13-year-old girl in early 2016. Harden had entered an Alford plea — essentially a guilty plea by a defendant who claims to be innocent — to aggravated indecent liberties and solicitation following his trial, which ended in a hung jury in last year.
The Kansas Court of Appeals sent the case back to district court because Harden had requested a departure from the Jessica’s Law 25-year minimum, saying his limited and unrelated criminal history should have had him as a candidate for sentencing under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act instead. Judge Merlin Wheeler denied the motion, but the Court of Appeals said the case against Harden was an off-grid crime, so lack of a significant criminal history is a mitigating factor for considering whether to use the KSGA instead of Jessica’s Law.
At 1:30 pm, Cole Bowen is in court for a review hearing. Bowen is one of five people recently charged with drug distribution-related crimes as part of an investigation that culminated with arrests earlier this month. Bowen faces charges of distributing stimulants and possessing paraphernalia with intent to manufacture.
At 2 pm, Eric Hawkins is in court for a motions hearing. Hawkins faces charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery after allegedly making unwanted advances while performing chiropractic services in his Emporia office.
Also at 2 pm, Cory Coburn has a pretrial hearing on charges of aggravated domestic battery, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and criminal threat. Coburn allegedly punched a woman, pulled a machete on her and threatened to burn a house down.
