Appeals in two murder cases, one local and one area, continue moving towards resolutions.
Devawn Mitchell continues his appeal of both his conviction of felony murder, aggravated assault on law enforcement and flee and elude in the 2021 traffic death of Steve Henry, as well as the 50-year sentence that followed. Assistant Lyon County Attorney Carissa Brinker has asked for additional time to produce the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law until Dec. 12 after a bench trial in September. A ruling date is pending.
Mitchell is appealing based off claims of ineffective counsel, both with trial attorney Rick Meier and appellate attorney Kurt Kerns. A previous appeal was denied by the Kansas Supreme Court.
Separately, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law have been submitted by both sides in the Scott Cheever appeal. Cheever shot Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels to death in early 2005 as Samuels was leading a drug raid near Hilltop. Cheever was convicted of capital murder in 2007 and was sentenced to death — along with over 700 months in prison for charges including attempted capital murder, manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture meth.
Cheever’s attorney, Brianna Harris, says Cheever was denied his constitutional right to effective counsel during the penalty phase of his capital murder trial, following “cumulative deficiencies of trial counsel” that made the penalty phase “unreliable and fundamentally unfair.” Also, Harris says there is a reasonable chance that at least one juror would have voted for a sentence other than death if it hadn’t been tor trial counsel’s errors, thus meaning the death sentence should be vacated.
Kansas Attorney General Solicitor General Kris Ailsleger disagrees, saying Cheever’s appellate attorneys failed to meet the burden of demonstrating both “deficient performance” of the original trial attorneys, as well as any resulting prejudice.
Cheever has been through a number of unsuccessful appeals since his conviction. The current appeal is focused on claims of ineffective counsel.
A ruling date is currently pending.
