A Missouri man who pleaded no contest to battering a law enforcement officer at the Lyon County Jail in late 2017 will appear before the Kansas Supreme Court this week.
Robert Robison III had been formally charged with two counts of battery against a law enforcement officer after he allegedly scratched two detention officers and bit a third during an incident in December 2017. The second count was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Robison was sentenced to 32 months in prison, along with 24 months of postrelease supervision and over $2,600 in restitution. The restitution has been a sticking point for Robison, who has argued the order violated both the state and federal constitutions and that district court was wrong in saying the restitution should be paid to an insurance carrier. The Court of Appeals has rejected those claims.
The Supreme Court will decide whether Section 5 of the Kansas Bill of Rights protects a jury-trial right to determine restitution in a criminal case and whether the state’s current criminal restitution laws violate the US Constitution Sixth Amendment and Apprendi v. New Jersey, a landmark case dealing with aggravating factors in criminal cases. The hearing is at 1:30 pm.
The Supreme Court hearing does not address Robison’s aggravated battery and flee and elude convictions in Greenwood County stemming from a car chase and fight with deputies before he was transferred to Emporia and had the incident in the Lyon County Jail that same night.
