An appeal is officially underway as Emporian Devawn Mitchell seeks to have his first-degree murder and other convictions reversed in the death of Steve Henry nearly four years ago.
As part of a scheduling conference Wednesday, a pretrial hearing was set for May 28 before Judge Lee Fowler.
This is Mitchell’s second appeal after a bench trial where he was convicted on first-degree felony murder, aggravated assault on law enforcement and felony flee and elude charges. He was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison afterward. Mitchell’s current appeal is based on ineffective counsel complaints, both against trial defense attorney Rick Meier and appellate defender Kurt Kerns.
Mitchell had initially appealed shortly after his sentencing in 2023, but the Kansas Supreme Court found no errors and affirmed both the convictions and sentence.
