Judge Trish Rose took under advisement any relief for a former sheriff and law enforcement instructor convicted in a child sex case.
James Ryan Bloom was convicted on several felonies and sentenced to 27-and-half years in prison in a child sex case. Now he seeks relief claiming ineffective counsel during plea negotiations. His attorney at the time, Sarah Sweet McKinnon was on the stand Monday morning testifying over the various plea offers made by the state between June and October of 2006. She told the court that in each instance, he turned down the offers, although she couldn’t recall why in each case. Also on the stand was his other attorney, Kiehl Rathbun.
Monday afternoon, Bloom himself took the stand and told the court that he thought something could be worked out where he might get probation. He also wanted charges dropped against his wife and her mother, for allegedly hiding the child so she couldn’t testify. He doesn’t believe his two attorney’s gave him all the information of what was going on. The offers were apparently made using e-mail during that year, some changing the charges if he would enter a plea. He says he never even saw any of the e-mails till last Friday when his attorney showed them to him. He also claims that he wasn’t told of the possible sentence, however the state pointed out that the judge who read the formal complaint to him mentioned the possible penalties.
He was given offered a number of agreement offers and turned all of them down. His attorney Sam Kepfield argued that his client got to point during plea negotiations where he didn’t trust anyone, while Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argued that he just didn’t get the plea offer he wanted.
But, he also thought that the speedy trial rule might come into play causing the court to dismiss the charges, however that never happened.
Bloom was found guilty of one count of rape, six counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct. The victim in the case was a 12-year-old girl. The crimes occurring while he was instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Yoder and happened over a period of time in 2006. He’s not eligible for parole until the year 2029.
He exhausted all of his appeals through the appellate process, and that brings up to the civil filing.
Again, Judge Rose took the matter under ineffective counsel under advisement. She says she will issue a written opinion at some point in the near future.
Bloom was an instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Facility near Yoder at the time of the crimes. He also served as the sheriff in Trego County at one time.