In March, the Kansas Court of Appeals paved the way for Justin Neighbors to have a new trial after it reversed 2015 convictions in Lyon County on methamphetamine distribution and possession. On Friday, that process came to a quick conclusion.
At a pretrial hearing, Judge Lee Fowler accepted prosecutors’ request to dismiss the charges. Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman says Neighbors already had served his sentence by the time the Court of Appeals issued its ruling this past spring.
Neighbors appealed his conviction and resulting sentence, claiming several prosecutor errors — including improperly vouching for witness credibility, misstating the law during closing arguments and arguing facts not admitted as evidence. The Court of Appeals panel issued a split 2-1 decision in favor of Neighbors, with the majority saying two points of prosecutor error were enough to undermine the court’s confidence in the trial outcome.
