TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Court of Appeals has reversed the conviction and sentence for a 42-year-old man here in Reno County.
Jeffrey Diederich was convicted of felony theft, identity theft, forgery and making false writing allegedly occurring on April 15, 2010. Under Kansas law, he is entitled to have a trial on the charges within 180-days of arraignment. The appeals court ruled that the state failed to get him to trial within that period of time even though he filed notice with the court for them to do so.
It’s a little complicated because Diederich at the time had been arrested on charges in other counties. Between June 2010 and January 2011, he was convicted on charges in four other counties including for charges of forgery and felony theft. Although, often in county jails while awaiting trial or transport back to the Kansas Department of Corrections, that department sent a letter to the District Court dated July 17, 2012, stating that he was in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
A docket call was scheduled for his case on October 5, 2011, but he didn’t appear. A bench warrant was then issued for his arrest on the assumption that he had bonded and released from custody and simply failed to show in court. But, he was in fact in the custody of the Department of Corrections, but had been transferred to the Douglas County Jail to face charges there. He was convicted of three counts of identity theft in that county and then for a charge of forgery in Cloud County.
On June 13, 2012, Diederich sent a letter to the court noting he had not bonded out and had been in custody. This was in response to the states motion that he had bonded and didn’t appear in court and was no longer entitled to have his trial within 180-days.
He later filed a motion without an attorney to dismiss the charges because of the courts failure to have his trial within that time limit. The court after hearing evidence agreed that he had not bonded, however later he withdrew his motion to dismiss. They held a trial on stipulated facts and he was convicted and sentenced. He then appealed based on speedy trial rules, in this case 180-days.
The appeals court ruled that the District Court was without jurisdiction to try him at all on the charges and reversed the convictions and sentence. They ordered the case back to District Court with directions to dismiss the charges with prejudice, meaning the state can’t refile them.
That doesn’t mean the he’ll be set free from prison. Diederich is serving time for crimes in Douglas, Cloud, Rice and Harvey Counties.