TOPEKA — The Kansas Court of Appeals has affirmed a conviction in a Lyon County drug case from nearly two years ago.
In January 2017, a Lyon County jury found Maria Ibarra guilty of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia after Lyon County deputies conducted a controlled buy in June 2016. Authorities say Ibarra gave a man cash in exchange for a television.
The jury acquitted Ibarra of meth distribution.
Ibarra appealed her convictions, saying she was set up by a confidential informant and there was prosecutor error during the trial. She also said the district court improperly instructed the jury on burden of proof guidelines.
The Court of Appeals panel, though, disagreed. It said the burden of proof may have shifted to the defendant, but there was either no
prosecutor error involved or there was a harmless error based on its review. It also said the state did not burden Ibarra with disproving a crime, thus denying the call of a set-up. In addition, the Court of Appeals says a reasonable doubt instruction did not “impermissibly” instruct against jury nullification and there was no convincing evidence the verdict would have changed if that instruction was not given. Furthermore, the appellate court says district court was not at fault for using Ibarra’s criminal history at sentencing without first making prosecutors prove her criminal history to a jury.
