A Kansas Court of Appeals has affirmed convictions in a Lyon County underage sex abuse case, but the case is coming back to District Court for other procedural matters.
In December 2016, Wade Eugene Hale, now 35, was charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a then-15-year-old after allegedly offering the teenager money for sex. A Lyon County jury convicted Hale on both counts last year.
Hale appealed on several assertions of court misconduct, including denied motions for mistrial after testimony went beyond the allowed scope, prosecutor errors during closing arguments, abuse of judicial discretion by denying a motion for a new trial and cumulative errors during trial denying him a fair trial.
The Court of Appeals panel either found no violations or, in the case of violations, none that would have impacted the course of the trial, so it upheld the conviction. However, it has remanded the case back to Lyon County District Court after a lack of clarity in setting BIDS, or Board of Indigents’ Defense Services, repayment fees. Hearing dates have not been announced.
