Defendant's Attorney: Sedgwick County, Kansas District Attorney's Office

Description: Wichita, Kansas personal injury lawyer represented the Plaintiff seeking damages from the State of Kansas as a result of being wrongfully convicted.


In 2004, a jury convicted Mashaney of aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child for his alleged conduct in 2003 with his then-five-year-old daughter, A.A. He was sentenced to 442 months in prison. A Court of Appeals panel affirmed. State v. Mashaney, No. 94,298, 2007 WL 1109456, at *7 (Kan. App. 2007) (unpublished opinion), rev. denied 284 Kan. 949 (2007).

In 2008, Mashaney filed a K.S.A. 60-1507 motion, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, which the district court summarily denied. On appeal, another Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded for a full evidentiary hearing. Mashaney v. State, No. 101,978, 2010 WL 3731341, at *16 (Kan. App. 2010) (unpublished opinion). After that hearing, the district court found Mashaney suffered substantial prejudice from ineffective trial and appellate representation. The court wrote in its minutes order, dated March 15, 2011, that it "vacated" the 2004 convictions and scheduled the original criminal case for a new trial.

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A plea agreement followed. The State replaced the original charges with new ones-two counts of attempted aggravated battery and one count of aggravated endangerment of child involving the same victim. The new charges deleted the original information's sexual component. Mashaney then entered an Alford plea to the new charges. See North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 37, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970); State v. Case, 289 Kan. 457, Syl. ¶ 2, 213 P.3d 429 (2009) ("An Alford plea is a plea of guilty to a criminal charge but without admitting to its commission."). The court accepted the plea, found Mashaney guilty, sentenced him to 72 months in prison, and ordered his release for time already served on the original 442-month sentence.

In 2020, Mashaney sued the State for monetary damages alleging wrongful conviction and imprisonment under K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 60-5004. The case went to a bench trial in 2022.

Mashaney testified he began communicating with his daughter, A.A., when she was 17 or 18 years old using Facebook Messenger and seeing her in person. He said she apologized, admitted the allegations against him were false, and explained her mother pressured her into making them. Mashaney's parents also testified. His father, Roger Mashaney, said A.A. first spoke to him about the incident in 2015, when she also acknowledged Mashaney did not commit the alleged acts and apologized for her previous statements. His mother, Sherry Gilbert, was present for this conversation and corroborated the father's account.

A.A. declined to testify and was beyond the court's jurisdiction because she lived out of state. The court permitted the State to admit her criminal case testimony into evidence. A.A.'s mother failed to appear as a witness. The State did not pursue a material witness warrant.

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The district court ruled in Mashaney's favor. It found he met the four statutory elements required for compensation:

"(A) The claimant was convicted of a felony crime and subsequently imprisoned.

"(B) the claimant's judgment of conviction was reversed or vacated and either the charges were dismissed or on retrial the claimant was found to be not guilty;

"(C) the claimant did not commit the crime or crimes for which the claimant was convicted and was not an accessory or accomplice to the acts that were the basis of the conviction and resulted in a reversal or vacation of the judgment of conviction, dismissal of the charges or finding of not guilty on retrial; and

"(D) the claimant did not commit or suborn perjury, fabricate evidence, or by the claimant's own conduct cause or bring about the conviction...." K.S.A. 2023 Supp. 60-5004(c)(1).

The district court calculated the wrongful conviction damages at $505,700. See K.S.A. 2023 Supp. 60-5004(e)(1)(A) ("Damages awarded under this section shall be . . . $65,000 for each year of imprisonment."). In reaching that amount, it found Mashaney was wrongfully imprisoned from October 1, 2003, to July 13, 2011, totaling 2,843 days or 7.78 years. The court concluded "each day wrongfully imprisoned should not be considered less than any other day in a complete year," despite the statute's reference to an annual rate. It then reduced the award by $91,105.06 received from a legal malpractice settlement after fees and costs. The final calculation brought the judgment against the State to $414,594.94.

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In re Mashaney, 126,550 (Kan. Oct 25, 2024)

Outcome: Reversed

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