TOPEKA, Kan. — A 40-year-old Rice County man serving a nearly 17 ½ year sentence lost his request for a review by the Kansas Supreme Court. The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed his sentence in a child sex case.

Jeffery Redding was convicted of one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties for sexually abusing his 4-year-old daughter and his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter in 2010 and 2011.

As part of a plea agreement, the state agreed to not seek a hard 25-year sentence, using the sentencing grid box instead. But the sentences for the two convictions were ordered to run consecutive to each other for 17 ½ years in prison.

Redding claimed a motion he filed for a departure without an attorney wasn’t properly considered by the court because the judge requested a response from the state on his motion without appointing him an attorney.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the judge in the Rice County case properly considered his initial request to depart from the hard 25 sentence to an on-grid sentence and was under no obligation to consider any further departures.