BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 21, 2009, in a legal case that originated in Montgomery County.
For the nation’s highest court to agree to hear a locally-originated case is extremely rare as the justices accept only one-tenth of 1 percent of all cases that are forwarded to the Supreme Court for consideration.
The case — State of Kansas vs. Donnie Ray Ventris — will focus on the question of whether information gathered by a confidential informant after a complaint has been filed against an accused person can be admitted into court.
Here are the basic facts of the case . . .
On Jan. 7, 2004, Ernest Hicks was shot and killed allegedly by Donnie Ray Ventris at the Hicks’ home near Dearing. Ventris’ girlfriend Rhonda Theel was in the home when Ventris was shot a total of three times during two different intervals.
Ventris and Theel were arrested and charged with several crimes. Theel eventually entered a plea bargain in exchange for her testimony against Ventris. She pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and aiding a felon.
Ventris’ former cellmate, Johnny Doser, was used by the Montgomery County prosecutor as a confidential informant. Doser shared a jail cell with Ventris, where he obtained information that was used against Ventris in a jury trial. In exchange for being a confidential informant, Doser was released from jail on probation.
Ventris’ attorneys objected to the use of Doser’s testimony in the trial, saying that Montgomery County’s use of a confidential informant violated Ventris’ constitutional right to counsel. Montgomery County prosecutors conceded the violation but agreed that the testimony could be used for impeachment purposes in the trial. The trial court allowed Doser to testify.
Ventris was eventually convicted of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery but acquitted of felony murder and misdemeanor theft. He was sentenced to 247 months for aggravated robbery and 34 months for aggravated burglary.
The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed Ventris’ convictions and sentences. However, the Kansas Supreme Court later heard the case on appeal and determined in February 2008 that Montgomery County prosecutors were wrong in planting the confidential informant in Ventris’ jail cell after Ventris had been charged with the crimes. Ventris’ conviction was overturned by the state supreme court and remanded for a new trial before the Kansas Attorney General’s Office stepped in to seek a clarification on the law. The Attorney General wrote a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the high court to make a determination in the discrepancy of case law dealing with confidential informants. The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court agreed earlier in the fall to hear the Montgomery County case next January.
William Cullins, who is now a district court judge in Montgomery County, was the prosecuting attorney in the case. He was asked by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office to be an observer in the state’s presentation of oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21. Cullins will attend the hearing along with his wife, Melinda.
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could be handed down by mid-summer 2009.
