State Courts

Court of Appeals reconsiders case of ?missing? evidence

By Ron Sylvester

The Kansas Court of Appeals today rescinded an order, which originally criticized a prosecutor for making up evidence.

Then the evidence was found in the court file.

Presiding Judge Melissa Taylor Standridge said the court simply believed prosecutors, who said the evidence used in the trial of an accused sex predator didn’t exist. It was later found among some 3,000 pages of evidence.

Standridge wrote in the order that the court relies on lawyers presenting their case to know the facts and get them right.

“It would be an irrefutable waste of scare court resources to look for a needle in a haystack, once the owner of the needle tells us the needle does not exist.”

New arguments in the case of Robert C. Ontiberos are set for Nov. 3.

The order:

State v Ontiberos Order

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on September 29, 2010 (boomark / email).