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Th e Finney County Bar Association is proud towelcome the Kansas Supreme Court to Garden City.

Welcome

THE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM ESaturday, October 10, 2015 GCTelegram.com

By MICHAEL MARESHmmaresh@gctelegram.com

Historic is the word local court officials and attor-neys are using to describe

the Kansas Supreme Court visit to Garden City next week.

For the first time in the 154-year history of the Court, the justices will be coming to Garden City.

Wendel Wurst, chief district judge for the 25th Judicial Dis-trict, said this visit was brought to the forefront by Justice Dan Biles and Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, who proposed the idea of coming to Finney County to other justices.

“It’s historic,” Wurst said, adding the Kansas Court of Appeals has visited Garden City a few times, but the Supreme Court has not.

The justices will be in session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Gar-den City High School auditori-

um, 2720 Buffalo Way Blvd.The lineup of cases that will

be heard has changed since the Court’s visit was first an-nounced six weeks ago. The line-up includes a Sedgwick County case that seeks to resolve ownership interest in a family owned business after one family member died, and an appeal of whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that a vehicle could be searched because it was parked in the driveway of a premises police had a warrant to search.

The justices also will hear an appeal of a first-degree murder conviction from Reno County and determine whether there was sufficient evidence to con-vict the defendant, whether the court improperly instructed the jury and whether the court com-mitted an error when it denied a motion for a mistrial.

The justices will meet Wednesday morning for a few

hours to discuss the cases they heard the previous night.

Before heading back to Tope-ka later Wednesday, the justices will have a by-invitation-only breakfast with local officials and court personnel.

The justices will arrive in Garden City Monday and on Tuesday will have a luncheon with members of the Finney County Bar Association.

After the luncheon, the justices, accompanied by some local judges, will fan out to visit four to five schools in the area. For security reasons, times and schools to be visited are not being publicly released.

The justices visited Hays in April, and Finney County will be the furthest west they have visited to hear cases.

“I think it is a nice feather in our hat and an opportunity to see them work without having to go to Topeka,” Wurst said.

Wurst said he hopes there

is a good turnout for the three cases the Supreme Court will hear Tuesday night.

“This is the highest court in our state, and they are faced with making difficult decisions all the time,” Wurst said.

A lot of residents get their ex-posure on the courts from court TV shows, and Wurst remem-bers watching the Perry Mason shows while growing up where the attorney would always get the person to break down and confess on the witness stand.

“I hope they will come out and get a good feeling of the court system,” he said. “I think there is a good percentage of the population that is interested in seeing them work.”

Wurst feels people who attend will come away with a much better understanding of how the Supreme Court functions.

A ‘historic’ visit

Courtesy photo

The Kansas Supreme Court, consisting of justices (back row from left) Dan Biles, Eric Rosen, Lee Johnson and Caleb Stegall; and justices (front row from left) Marla J. Luckert, Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Carol Beier.

By AUSTIN FISHERafisher@gctelegram.com

Before Monday, David Acosta knew nothing about the Kansas

Supreme Court.Next week, the 18-year-

old Garden City High School senior will get to meet the Court’s seven justices and act as a student ambassador for one of them as they hear three cases and meet the public in special session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the

GCHS auditorium.“I’m very honored to

have an opportunity like this,” Acosta said in an interview on Wednesday.

Each of the seven justices will be assigned one student ambassador, selected from each of the high school’s upper acade-mies, who will answer any questions they might have about Garden City or the surrounding area.

Acosta, who serves on

the GCHS student council as president of the Trades and Health Academy and head of its community service committee, said the Kansas Supreme Court’s visit to Garden City next week is an opportunity for students to get a taste of the real world.

“The high school students who are going to graduate next spring, I believe they don’t really know how big and scary the

Special session a rare opportunity for students

Brad Nading/Telegram

Garden City High School teacher David Duran, left, talks Wednesday with students in a U.S. History class about the Kansas Supreme Court.

Supreme Court making first-ever trip to GC

Invitation to the

community

Kansas Supreme CourtSpecial SessionOctober 13, 2015Garden City High School

October 5, 2015,

My family still owns the land my great-grandparents homestead-ed in southwest Kansas in the late 1870s, so I am especially pleased to invite other homesteader descen-dants, and everyone else from the

area, to join the Kansas Supreme Court justices for a special court session October 13.

The court will hear oral arguments on two Wichita cas-es and one from “west of High-way 81” starting at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium

of the Garden City High School at 2720 Buffalo Way Blvd. Right after this special session, the seven justices will greet everyone in an informal reception in the commons area outside the auditorium.

This is the Supreme Court’s first-ever visit to Garden City. And, to our knowledge, it is only the second time in history the court is hearing cases argued at night.

The Supreme Court’s work has always been open to the people of Kansas. But to observe our work during the first 150 years of state-hood, people had to travel to our courtroom in Topeka. Then in 2011, the court started making communi-ty visits to hear cases. Garden City is our ninth destination during that time and certainly the farthest west we have traveled so far.

The year after our first commu-nity visits, we also started to lives-tream all Topeka court sessions on the Internet. This service allows anyone anywhere to watch oral arguments while they are made.

Live Internet streaming is a big step toward making our work even more accessible to the people. But it still lacks the opportunity for personal interaction that commu-nity visits provide. And the chance for additional personal interaction is also what led us to schedule the Garden City oral arguments at night. We appreciate that holding arguments after Kansans’ work-day ends should allow even more

Chief Justice Lawton Nuss

See Historic, Page E2

See Schools, Page E2

See Session, Page E2

E2 Saturday, October 10, 2015 THE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM

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Bryce Haverkamp, AttorneyCriminal Law • Domestic Law1807 E. Mary, Ste 5Garden City, KS

620-272-0611

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“I think it’s a good thing, and I am glad they are doing this,” he said.

Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier said the importance of the Supreme Court vising Garden City cannot be overstated.

“I believe the citizens of southwest Kansas have a tremendous opportunity to watch the Kansas Supreme Court in action,” Richmeier said. “Most people never have a chance to see the in-ner working of an appellate court, and next week they can attend oral argument in their own community at GCHS.”

She said it is heartwarm-ing to see the members of the Supreme Court take an interest in communities outside of Topeka and make themselves available to the public.

“I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this occasion to learn about the legal process beyond what happens in our own municipal and district courtrooms,” Richmeier said.

Nuss said the court wants to remove any mis-understandings about what they do by showing the pub-lic firsthand what they do.

“This is the real (thing),” Nuss said. “You don’t have to believe us. You can watch us.”

While the public can always watch them make decisions on the court’s website, it’s a different feel when seeing them in per-

son, Nuss said.“It’s quite a different

thing to see them doing their job in person,” he said.

Nuss said it also gives the public a chance to ask questions of the justices after they hear the cases Tuesday night.

“This is a different kind of court,” Nuss said.

The cases, which the justices will have reviewed for 15 to 20 hours before-hand, will be discussed Wednesday morning, and Nuss said the hope is that they will be decided on before leaving Garden City later that day, but added there is no guarantee this

will happen.He hopes a large per-

centage of the public will come out to watch them for possibly the first time.

25th Judicial District Court Administrator Kurtis Jacobs said the justices scheduled the hearing time for the eve-ning so more people could attend. In Topeka, the cases are generally heard during the day.

“This is a special and rare opportunity,” Jacobs said. “It’s been 154 years, and they have never been here. It’s really special and pretty rare to have it in our area. It’s really nice.”

Historic: Court making first trip to GCContinued from Page E1

Appeal No. 108,963: Betty A. Born, et al v. Sharon L. Born and Todd J. Born, et al. this is a petition for review of a case that originated in Sedgwick County that seeks to resolve ownership interest in a family-owned business after one family member/owner died.Appeal No. 109,995: State of Kansas v. Dontae M. Patterson. Patterson was charged with various drug offenses, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, and receipt of criminal proceeds after Wichita police searched his vehicle parked in the drive-way of premises police had a warrant to search. Issue on appeal is whether the Court of appeals erred in holding that

the vehicle could be searched because it was parked in the driveway of the premises po-lice had a warrant to search.Appeal No. 110, 415: State of Kansas v. Charles C. Logsdon. Logsdon appeals a reno County conviction for first-degree murder, and other charges, for which he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 50 years. Issues before the court are whether there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to convict him, and whether the district court committed errors when it denied his motion for mistrial, when it imposed a hard-50 sentence, and when it instructed the jury on the law regarding aiding and abetting.

The cases

world is gonna be,” he said. “Knowing something like what a Supreme Court is, that probably will revolve around a lot of our lives eventually.”

When he was selected, Acosta asked social studies department head Dru Sad-dler to help him learn the basics of “the court of last resort” and come up with questions for the justices.

“Often, we think of the Court as this abstract entity,” Saddler said of the Topeka-based Court. “This visit gives us a chance to see that these people are human, to realize that some of us could be in their position.”

Saddler once worked for the records department of the 18th District Court in Sedgwick County, under current District Attorney Marc Bennett, one of the lead prosecutors in the Carr brothers case ultimately heard by the Kansas Supreme Court and currently being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Next week, he plans to give lectures to his history classes on case law, the Kansas Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. He said he will try to make the courts relevant to students’ lives, like he does with all of his lessons.

Some GCHS students will get first-hand expe-rience in their respective fields of study during the Court’s visit, according to USD 457 Director of Sec-ondary Education Renee

Scott.The Buffalo Broad-

casting System will be livestreaming the special session at kscourts.org.

The GCHS Sugar Beet, the high school’s newspa-per, will send student re-porters and photographers to cover the event.

Students in the high school’s culinary arts program will prepare and serve food at a reception following the special ses-sion Tuesday night.

USD 457 first heard of interest from the Kansas Supreme Court in coming to Garden City in July, said Scott, who has acted as a liaison between the court and the school district leading up to the visit.

“It’s been a true collabo-rative effort,” Scott said.

Court staff worked with GCHS Theatre Director Barbara Hilt and Associate Principal Charles Kipp to prepare the school’s audito-rium to serve as an actual courtroom, she said.

The justices, accompa-nied by some local judges, will fan out to visit four to five schools in the area.

In an interview on Wednesday, Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said he hopes that the Court and their staff driving over five hours from Topeka to Gar-den City is seen as a show of respect to students and the people of southwest Kansas.

“Hopefully, people will listen carefully about what we’re doing and walk away maybe not understanding legal issues and arguments,

but find it interesting to see how justices go about doing these cases,” Nuss said. “It’s not like reading about a decision when it’s over. You actually get to the watch it in process. We hope some of the mystery surrounding the Court will be eliminated.”

Growing up in a small town like Sterling, Finney County District Court Chief Judge Wendel Wurst said he “wouldn’t have known a Supreme Court justice from the man on the moon.”

“I hope that some of (the students) are inspired to take their education seriously, to think about a career in law, have their horizons broadened,” Wurst said in an interview on Tuesday. “I hope that somebody ends up going back and looking at the Constitution, looking at the Bill of Rights.”

Acosta has been plan-ning to study biochemistry and minor in business at the University of Nebras-ka-Omaha with hopes of becoming a psychiatrist However, he said, the Court’s visit “feels like a sign” to pursue a career in public service, so he’s getting interested in local government, elections and politics, and is consider-ing forgoing medicine to become an environmental lawyer.

“The justices are held in the highest respect,” Acosta said. “It’ll be really interesting, and probably intimidating, being around these people.”

Schools: Visit rare opportunity for studentsContinued from Page E1

people to attend in person. It gives Kansans a real opportunity to see who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

The Supreme Court and its work are sometimes de-fined by those who simply want to benefit their per-sonal agendas. What is not mentioned is a code of ju-dicial conduct that bars the justices from deciding cases based on politics, special interests, public opinion, or even our own personal

beliefs. Instead, we must de-cide cases based on the law — such as the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas — which we are sworn to support.

We invite you to come see for yourself a sampling of the hundreds of cases that come before the court each year. We want you to hear the arguments Kansas attorneys make and to listen to the questions the justices ask — with the intent of correctly applying the law.

My colleagues and I look forward to meeting you Oc-tober 13. Perhaps you and I can exchange family stories about homesteading and raising cattle on the High Plains. If you exceed the 700 people who watched our evening oral arguments at Fort Hays State University in April, everyone’s stories will have to be pretty short. But that would be a good problem to have.

Lawton R. NussChief Justice

Kansas Supreme Court

Session: Chief justice invites communityContinued from Page E1

Mike Corn/Hays Daily News

Kansas Supreme Court Justice Marla J. Luckert, center, asks a questions during an appearance by the Court in Hays, as Justice Eric Rosen, left, and Chief Justice Lawton Nuss look on.

E3Saturday, October 10, 2015THE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM

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Honorable Lawton R. NussChief Justice 2010 — presentJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2002 — 2010

Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss is a fourth-generation Kansan. After graduating from Salina High School, he attend-ed the University of Kansas on a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship. He graduated in January 1975 with a bachelor of arts in English and history and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He then served as a combat engineering officer with the Fleet Marine Force Pacific. After his discharge in 1979, he entered law school at the University of Kansas and graduated in May 1982.

Chief Justice Nuss began his law practice with the Sali-na firm of Clark Mize & Lin-ville, chartered in August 1982. For the next 20 years, he was involved in a wide range of legal issues and proceedings. He represented corporations and individuals as plaintiffs, as well as defendants in civil cases. He also represented the government, as well as defendants in criminal cases. Based upon surveys of judges and fellow law-yers, during this time he was awarded an “AV” rating from Martin-dale-Hubbell, that national organization’s highest rating for legal ability and profession-al ethics.

Chief Justice Nuss’ profes-sional activities while a lawyer included serving as chairman of the Board of Editors for the Journal of the Kansas Bar Association; as President of the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel, where he also received the Distinguished Service Award and the Defense Research Institute Exception-al Performance Citation; as president of the Saline-Ottawa County Bar Association; and as a mediator for the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Chief Justice Nuss also served as Chairman of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of St. John’s Military School, the Board of Directors of the Salina Child Care Asso-ciation, the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Salina Public Library, the Board of Advisors of the Coronado Area Council of Boy Scouts, and the Site Council for Roosevelt-Lin-coln Middle School.

Nuss was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Bill Graves in August 2002, becom-ing the first Court member in more than 20 years to move directly from the practice of law to the bench. He became Chief Justice in August 2010.

As chief justice, Nuss pre-sides over the Supreme Court during its exercise of general administrative authority over all courts in the state. In ad-dition to those duties, he also serves as the Supreme Court liaison to the Kansas District Judges’ Association. He previ-ously served as chairman of the Kansas Judicial Council, and as the Supreme Court liaison for the Kansas Board of Law Examiners, the Client Protection Fund Commission, and the Kansas Board of Ex-aminers of Court Reporters.

On the national level, Chief Justice Nuss is a member of the Conference of Chief Justices, an organization composed of the top judicial officers of each state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. A past member of the Conference’s Board of Directors, he currently serves as the conference’s vice-chair of the Court Management Committee and as a member of its Civil Justice Committee and its Access, Fairness and Public Trust Committee. Chief Justice Nuss is a member of the Kansas and Topeka bar as-sociations. He was selected in 2011 to participate in the Hen-ry Toll Fellowship, a nation-wide leadership development program for highly recognized state leaders.

Chief Justice Nuss is a graduate of the Appellate Judges School at New York University School of Law and the United States Naval Justice School of Newport, R.I. He is also the author of several pub-lished legal and historical arti-cles and is a frequent presenter for legal and lay audiences.

Chief Justice Nuss has five grown children and one grandchild. He and his wife live in Topeka.

Honorable Carol A. BeierJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2003-present

Carol A. Beier, a native of Kansas City, Kan., has au-thored over 600 judicial opin-ions for the citizens of Kansas. She was appointed Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court on Sept. 5, 2003, having served as a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals from Feb. 18, 2000.

Before taking the bench, Justice Beier was a partner at Foulston Siefkin L.L.P. in Wichita. While at the firm, she had a broad trial and appellate practice. Justice Beier also spent one year as a visiting professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, where she designed and taught a course on women and the law, taught an advanced torts class,

and directed two student clini-cal programs — a criminal law appeals clinic and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project.

Justice Beier began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge James K. Logan of the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. At the conclu-sion of her clerkship, she was awarded a Revson fellowship at the George-town Law

Center Women’s Rights and Public Policy Program. As a fellow, she worked on family income security, education, and employment issues at the National Women’s Law Center. She then entered private practice at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn.

Justice Beier received her J.D. in 1985 from the University of Kansas School of Law and her L.L.M. in 2004 from the University of Virginia School of Law. While a student at KU Law, she was a Rice Scholar, ar-ticles editor of the Kansas Law Review, and student director of the Defender Project. Upon graduation, she was named to the Order of the Coif law honorary society and selected by the law faculty to receive the Samuel Mellinger Award for Scholarship, Leadership, and Service.

Justice Beier received her bachelor of science in journalism in 1981 from the University of Kansas. She also attended Benedictine College in Atchison. She graduated from Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City.

Justice Beier is a member and former District 10 director of the National Association of Women Judges, a longtime member of the Kansas Bar Association and a member of the Board of Editors for its Annual Survey of the Law, a fellow of the Kansas Bar Foundation, and a longtime member of the American Bar Association, the D.C. Bar, and the Wichita Bar Association. She is a founding member and was the first secretary of the Kansas Women Attorneys As-sociation. In 2013, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas School of Law, and, in 2015, she received the Betty M. Drees, M.D., Distinguished Alumna Award from Women in Medicine and Science. In 2012, Justice Beier was named to the University of Kansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

Justice Beier is married to Richard W. Green. They live in Topeka and have three children.

Honorable Dan BilesJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2009-present

Dan Biles was born Aug. 12, 1952, in El Dorado. He became a justice in March 2009, after working in private practice for 24 years in Overland Park. His practice emphasized admin-istrative, trial and appellate work on behalf of individuals, corporations and various state, county and local government agencies. Justice Biles repre-sented the Kansas State Board of Education as its private attorney from 1985 until his appointment to the Supreme Court. He also served for five years as general counsel to the Kansas Turnpike Authority while in private practice.

Admitted to the Kansas Bar in April 1978, he is a gradu-ate of Washburn University School of Law and Kansas State University, where he

earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism in 1974. Prior to working in private practice, Justice Biles served five

years beginning in 1980 as an assistant attorney general, Lit-igation Division, in the office of Kansas Attorney General Robert T. Stephan. Previous-ly, Justice Biles had been a writer for The Associated Press in Topeka, reporting on state legislative hearings and sessions, the Kansas Supreme Court, governor’s office, state agencies and various state and federal political campaigns. He also was an adjunct profes-sor of law at Washburn Law School.

Justice Biles currently serves as the Supreme Court’s liaison for implementing the judicial branch’s electronic case filing system (commonly known as e-filing) within the Kansas appellate and district courts, as well as electronic case and document manage-ment systems. This multi-year effort promises to greatly im-prove court efficiencies across the state and generate cost savings through the electronic processing of court cases, and the reduction of paper files and personnel time.

Among his professional organizations and activities prior to joining the court, Justice Biles was on the board of directors of Community Living Opportunities Inc., a

Kansas not-for-profit corpo-ration serving more than 300 children and adults with se-vere developmental disabilities in residential, day programs and case management. He also served as an advisory board member of the Johnson Coun-ty Housing Coalition, a Kansas not-for-profit organization providing low cost housing and more affordable home-ownership in Johnson County for low-income residents. He is a member of Friends of the Schielfelbusch Life Span Institute, the largest of several research centers at the Univer-sity of Kansas, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for persons of all ages, pri-marily those with disabilities. Justice Biles is a past chair of the National Council of State Education Attorneys, which is connected to the National Association of State Boards of Education, Washington, D.C. In 2009, Justice Biles received the state education attorney’s Douglas F. Bates Distinguished Service Award.

Justice Biles and his wife, Amy McCart, Ph.D., who is an associate research professor at the University of Kansas, Beach Center on Disability, are parents to three daughters.

Honorable Lee A. JohnsonJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2007-presentJudge, Kansas Court of Appeals 2001-2007

Lee A. Johnson was born in Caldwell, on June 28, 1947. He received a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Kansas in 1969. After serving two years on active duty with the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, he became a licensed, multi-line insurance agent. In 1977, he entered Washburn University School of Law and graduated Summa Cum Laude with the class of 1980. Upon graduation, he practiced law in Caldwell, first in partnership with Don B. Stallings and later as a sole practitioner. He was ap-pointed to the Kansas Su-preme Court effective Jan. 8, 2007, following his tenure on the Kansas Court Appeals from 2001-2007.

Justice Johnson was active in numerous commu-nity organizations, including serving on the Sumner Mental Health board for 16 years. He served as mayor of Caldwell in 1975-1976, and as Caldwell city attorney from 1987 to 1997. He is a member of the Kansas and Sumner County bar associa-tions, serving as the local bar association president in 1992.

Justice Johnson and his wife, Donna, have two chil-dren, Jordan and Jennifer.

Honorable Marla J. LuckertJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2003-present

Marla J. Luckert was born July 20, 1955, in Goodland. She received a bachelor of arts in history in May 1977 and her juris doctorate in 1980 from Washburn University. While in law school, she served as tech-nical editor of the Washburn Law Journal and received faculty and alumni awards for best student note.

Upon her admission to practice in 1980, she joined the Topeka firm of Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds and Palmer. She had a general litigation and health law practice. She was selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. She also served as an adjunct professor of law at Washburn University. In 1992, she was appointed by Gov. Joan Finney to the Third Judicial District Court. She was appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court to the Kansas Judicial Council, where she served as chair of the Criminal Law Advisory Committee. In 2000, she became chief judge of the Third Judicial District. Gov. Bill Graves appointed her to the Kansas Supreme Court effective Jan. 13, 2003.

Justice Luckert has served as president of the Kansas Bar Association, the Kansas District Judges Association, the Kansas Women Attorneys Association, the Topeka Bar Association, the Sam A. Crow Inn of Court, and the Women Attorneys Association of Tope-ka. She is a fellow of the Amer-ican Bar Foundation and the Kansas Bar Foundation. She has served as a delegate to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Conference of State Trial Judges and of the Young Lawyer’s Division Assembly. She has served on several ABA committees and been a mem-ber of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents. She has served as a member of the American Inn of Court education committee. She is also a member of the American Judges Association, the National Association of

Women Judges, the Ameri-can Judicature Society, the National Center for State Courts and the Supreme Court Historical Society. She has re-ceived awards for outstanding achievement or service from the Kansas Bar Association, and the Kansas Women Attor-neys Association.

She has received the outstanding volunteer award from her children’s elementary school and the Topeka YWCA’s Woman of Excellence award. She served on the Board of Governors of the Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association for several years. She and her spouse have three children.

Honorable Eric S. RosenJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2005-present

Eric S. Rosen was born May 25, 1953, in Topeka. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree with honors from the University of Kansas. He received his law degree from the Washburn University School of Law in 1984.

Justice Rosen was sworn in as justice of the Kansas Supreme Court in November 2005, following 12 years of service as a district court judge in Shawnee County. His as-signments at the district court included criminal and civil cases. He also served two years as chief judge of the district’s

domestic division from 1993 to 1995. During his judicial career, he served as an adjunct professor for Washburn University

School of Law, a lecturer at the Menninger School of Law and Psychiatry, and recently as an instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. Justice Rosen was also appointed to hear numerous cases for the Kansas Court of Appeals. In July 2002, the chief justice appointed him to the Kansas Sentencing Commission. Also in 2002, Justice Rosen was appointed to the 24-member presidential commission charged with commemorating the 50th anni-versary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. Other commendations include the Martin Luther King Living the

Dream Humanitarian Award, an honorary diploma and cer-tificate of honor for his many contributions to Topeka High School, the Attorney Gener-al’s Victim Service Award for Outstanding Judge, and the To-peka Capital-Journal’s Kansan of Distinction in the area of law in 1999. In October 2013, he was inducted into the Topeka West High School graduate hall of fame.

Before his appointment to the bench, he was a partner in the law firm of Hein, Ebert and Rosen. He also served as associate general counsel for the Kansas Securities Commis-sioner, as an assistant district attorney and assistant public defender in Shawnee County.

Justice Rosen graduated from appellate judges school at New York University School of Law and is a mem-ber of that school’s Dwight D. Opperman Institute of Ju-dicial Administration. Other professional activities include serving as president of the Sam A. Crow Inns of Court from 2004 to 2005, and as a member of American Judges Association, American Judicature Society, Kansas District Judges Association, and the American, Kansas and Topeka bar associations.

Justice Rosen has been active with many community and neighborhood groups, including the Jerome Horton Foundation, Community Corrections Advisory Board (former vice chair), Topeka High School Site Council (for-mer president), Topeka High Booster Club, Indian Woods Neighborhood Association, Temple Beth Shalom, and YMCA of Topeka.

Justice Rosen is married to Elizabeth A. (Libby) Rosen, and they have four adult chil-dren and seven grandchildren.

Honorable Caleb StegallJustice, Kansas Supreme Court 2014-presentJudge of the Court of Appeals 2014-2014

Caleb Stegall was born Sept. 20, 1971, in Topeka. He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1989, and in 1993 he received a bachelor of arts, with honors, in English literature from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa. He earned his juris doctorate in Decem-ber 1999 from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he served on the Kansas Law Review; was awarded the Wil-

liam L. Burdick Prize, given to the top student; and graduated Order of the Coif.

Justice Stegall was appoint-ed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Sam Brownback effective Dec. 5, 2014, following his ten-ure on the Kansas Court of Ap-peals. Upon his admission to the Kansas Bar in 2000, Justice Stegall served as a law clerk to the Honorable Deanell R. Ta-cha, chief judge of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He then joined the Topeka of-fice of the Foulston Siefkin law firm, where he practiced in the

areas of com-mercial, tort and appellate litigation.

In 2005, he formed the law firm Stegall & Associates in Perry. Recognized by U.S. News

& World Report as one of the top firms in Kansas, Stegall & Associates specialized in complex constitutional and commercial litigation. During this period, Justice Stegall handled a variety of highly visible matters of significant public concern, including successfully representing a number of American mis-sionaries who were charged with serious crimes in Haiti following that country’s devastating earthquake in 2010. For his work on behalf of the missionaries, Stegall was awarded the Kansas Bar Association’s 2010 Pro Bono Certificate.

From 2009 to 2011, in addition to his private practice, Justice Stegall served as the elected county attorney of Jefferson County. As the lead prosecutor and chief law enforcement official of Jeffer-son County, Stegall oversaw a full-time staff that actively managed a yearly caseload of hundreds of felonies and misdemeanors. He personally handled the most serious of these, including prosecuting cases of murder, rape, crimes against children, drug manu-facture and distribution, and white collar financial crimes.

In January 2011, Stegall was named chief counsel to the governor in the newly formed Brownback adminis-tration. He served as the top legal adviser in the Kansas executive branch until his appointment to the Kansas Court of Appeals three years later.

Justice Stegall and his wife, Ann, have been married for 20 years. They have five chil-dren—Simon, Jacob, Ethan, Theodore and Quentin.

Kansas Supreme Court justices

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GENERAL TRIAL PRACTICE

SUPREME COURTWELCOME TO

WESTERN KANSAS

DO SOME JUSTICE WHILE YOU’RE HERE!

Se Habla Español 505 N. 6TH

GARDEN CITY, KANSAS 67846

Serving the Garden City area for over 40 years

620-275-9193

LINDNER, MARQUEZ &

KOKSAL

• JOHN M. LINDNER • RICHARD L. MARQUEZ • J. SCOTT KOKSAL

Source:kansascourts.org

E4 Saturday, October 10, 2015 THE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM

E4

The Kansas Supreme CourtAddress: 301 SW 10th ave.topeka, KS 66612-1507Office of Judicial Administra-tion telephone: (785) 296-2256Fax: (785) 296-7076Email: info@kscourts.orgAppellate Clerk’s Office tele-phone: (785) 296-3229Fax: (785) 296-1028Email: appellateclerk@kscourts.org

Kansas CourtsThere are several dif-

ferent levels of courts in Kansas to handle various kinds of cases.

Municipal courts: These courts, also known as city courts, deal with alleged violations of city ordinances committed within the city limits. The cases usually in-volve traffic and other minor offenses. A person charged with an offense in municipal court may be represented by a lawyer. The judge hears the cases without a jury.

District courts: These are created by the Consti-tution. They are the trial courts of Kansas, with general original juris-diction over all civil and criminal cases, including divorce and domestic re-lations, damage suits, pro-bate and administration of estates, guardianships, conservatorships, care of the mentally ill, juvenile matters, and small claims. It is here that the criminal and civil jury trials are held. Kansas is divided into judicial districts, with varying numbers of judg-es in each district. There is a district court in each county and an office of the clerk of the court where cases may be filed.

The Kansas Court of Appeals: This court is located in Topeka in the Kansas Judicial Center and is an intermediate ap-pellate court. The Court of Appeals hears all appeals from orders of the State Corporation Commission,

and all appeals from the district courts in both civil and criminal cases, except those which may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court. It also has jurisdiction over original actions in habeas corpus.

The Court may hear ap-peals en banc (all judges) but usually sits in panels of three. The Court of Appeals may sit anywhere in the state. Hearings are scheduled regularly in Hays, Garden City, Wichi-ta, Chanute, Kansas City, Olathe and Topeka, and hearings have also been held in other cities for the convenience of the parties.

The Kansas Supreme Court: The highest court in the state sits in Topeka in the Kansas Judicial Center and is the state court of last resort. It hears direct appeals from the district courts in the most serious criminal cases and appeals in any case in which a statute has been held unconstitu-tional. It may review cases decided by the Court of Appeals, and may transfer cases from that court to the Supreme Court. It also has original jurisdiction in several types of cases.

Court of Appeals judges and Supreme Court justices ordinarily do not conduct trials. They

decide an appealed case by reading the trial record and written briefs filed by the parties, and by hearing oral arguments of lawyers. They research and review the laws involved and then write opinions that usual-ly are published in bound volumes called reports.

Clerk of the Supreme Court/Reporter of the Supreme Court

The clerk of the Su-preme Court and the reporter of the Supreme Court are constitutional officers, which means they were established by the Kansas Constitution.

All documents related to cases coming before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are filed in the clerk’s office. The clerk maintains separate files for each case. After an appeal is decided, a man-date is sent to the clerk of the district court where the case originated.

The Reporter of Deci-sions publishes opinions and rules of the Supreme Court in advance sheets and later compiles these into bound volumes of the Kansas Reports. Similarly, the reporter serves as the Reporter of Decisions for

the Court of Appeals and prepares and publishes its opinions in advance sheets and bound volumes known as the Kansas Court of Appeals Reports.

Supreme Court Published Opinions

This is a project of the Kansas courts, in cooper-ation with the libraries of the Washburn University and University of Kansas schools of law.

This page provides a gateway to the published opinions of the Kansas Supreme Court and the Kansas Court of Appeals. Coverage begins with Oct. 25, 1996. Access to opinions is provided via keyword searching. In addition, lists are avail-able alphabetically by case name (Supreme Court and Court of Appeals), by docket number, and by date opinions are released (beginning May 1, 1998, includes lists of unpub-lished opinions). Opin-ions are normally added to this site within one hour of the time (usually

9:30 a.m. each Friday) they are transmitted by the Reporter’s Office to the webmaster.

Information about the status of specific cases is also available through the Kansas Appellate Courts Case Inquiry System.

NOTE: Slip opinions are subject to motions for rehearing and peti-tions for review prior to issuance of the mandate. Before citing a slip opinion, determine that the opin-ion has become final. Slip opinions also are subject to modification orders and editorial corrections prior to publication in the official reports. Consult the bound volumes of Kansas Reports and Kansas Court of Appeals Reports for the final, official texts of the opinions of the Kansas Supreme Court and the Kansas Court of Appeals.

Source: kscourts.org

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Welcome

• Divorce• Paternity • Custody• Child Support

~ Heydman Law, LLC ~1519 E. Fulton Terrace • Garden City • 620-275-7000 • www.heydmanlaw.com

to Garden CityKansas Supreme Court Justices

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“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” - Winston Churchill

WE WELCOME

THE KANSAS SUPREME COURT TO GARDEN CITY.

D|G DOERING & GRISELL, P.A.

ATTORNEYS AT LAW124 GRANT AVENUE

GARDEN CITY, KANSAS 67846

242896

Welcome toGarden City

KANSAS SUPREMECOURT JUSTICES!

Specializing in Family Law &Wills, Trusts & Probate.

CHRISTOPHER J. VELEZ, ESQ.1021 Fleming St., Ste. AGarden City, KS 67846

Phone: (620) 277-3315 • Fax: (620) 277-3310

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Kansas’ court system: what you need to know

Mike Corn/Hays Daily News

The Kansas Supreme Court listens as attorney Heather Cessna, right argues her side of of an appeal from an Ellis County criminal case.