Description: McPherson, Kansas criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with sexually molesting a child.

Kittle and his wife Jayne have two children-their daughter Emma and her older brother Sam. (The names are pseudonyms we have substituted to protect the children's privacy.) Kittle and Jayne separated without divorcing, and she moved to Massachusetts with the children. Jayne encountered continuing problems with childcare; so in July 2016, Emma and Sam returned to live with Kittle in McPherson. Jayne visited the children in Kansas a few times. On the last trip, around Memorial Day in 2019, Jayne and her boyfriend stayed with the children at a motel and took them to a water park and other activities in the area.

A day or so before Jayne and her boyfriend were to leave, Emma, who was then about four years old, spontaneously told her mother that Kittle had licked what the child described as her private part. Jayne determined Emma was referring to her vagina. Their conversation took place well into the evening, so Jayne put the children to bed. The next morning Jayne called a sex abuse hotline and then the local police. In the meantime that morning, Emma repeated her statement about Kittle to Jayne's boyfriend. A police officer with the City of McPherson responded to the call; he spoke with Jayne and her boyfriend but not with the children. The officer directed Jayne to take the children to the police station.

A detective trained in interviewing young children suspected to be victims of sexual assault spoke with Emma The jury watched a video recording of that interview during the trial. In the interview, Emma describes Kittle engaging in oral sex with her, as she told her mother, and she also says he touched her vagina with his penis.

Emma and Sam were immediately placed in a group home on an emergency basis as children in need of care. Jayne did not get physical custody of them for several months as she awaited approval of an interstate transfer to her. About a week after talking to the detective, Emma underwent a sexual assault examination done by a specially trained nurse at a Wichita hospital. The nurse described Emma as rather hyper and unfocused. During the examination, Emma did not mention any sexual abuse. The nurse noted that Emma did say her mother told her that Kittle did not love her. And the nurse found no physical evidence confirming that Emma had been sexually assaulted. As part of the police investigation, the detective interviewed Kittle; he denied abusing Emma in any way.

Based on the physical contact Emma described to the detective, the State charged Kittle with one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, an off-grid violation of K.S.A. 21-5506(b)(3)(A), and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy, an off-grid violation of K.S.A. 21-5504(b)(1).

Emma testified at the jury trial in September 2022. She was then about eight years old. Emma told the jurors that Kittle licked her vagina. In her testimony, she did not recount Kittle touching her vagina with his penis but described him putting his penis in her mouth. Emma's trial testimony also differed from what she told the detective as to the time of day the sexual abuse occurred and how Kittle was dressed. Emma testified that neither Jayne nor her boyfriend told her what to say; she said they told her to tell the truth. Asked if she did so, Emma answered that she had. Jayne testified that she could not recall telling Emma that Kittle did not love her. Kittle testified briefly in his own defense and reiterated that he never abused or harmed Emma. The jury found Kittle guilty of both charges.

About three months later, the district court ordered Kittle to serve a sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years on each conviction to be served concurrently. The court further ordered that if released from prison, Kittle would remain on parole for life.

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State v. Kittle, 125,883 (Kan. App. Oct 25, 2024)

Outcome: Affirmed

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Defendant's Experts:

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