Kansas man must be able to request reduction of 108-year prison stay

A Wichita man successfully appealed a lower court's decision to sentence him to more than 100 years in prison for the kidnapping and rape of three women in 2016 and 2017.

The Sedgwick County district court originally sentenced De'Andrew Dixon to more than 170 years for his crimes when he was 33 years old. Dixon appealed the conviction and the sentencing to the Kansas Appellate Court, which reaffirmed his guilt in the conviction but found his sentencing violated Kansas' "double rule" that limits sentencing for convictions attained in a single case.

"The application of the double rule led to a total sentence of 2,045 months between the two cases because Dixon had a base sentence for each case. This difference of more than 700 months, or about 61 years, is the result solely of the number of case numbers attached to the charges at Dixon's consolidated trial," court documents said.

Here were the errors made in resentencing of De'Andrew Dixon

The appellate court vacated the 170year sentence, and asked the district court to resentence Dixon with the stipulation that Dixon's maximum sentence is 108 years. During the resentencing hearing, Dixon requested a durational departure, of which a judge can impose a sentence outside of sentencing guidelines, which the Sedgwick County District Court rejected.

"Because the district court refused to consider Dixon's new departure motion at his resentencing hearing, citing a lack of jurisdiction when it actually had jurisdiction, the district court necessarily erred by not considering Dixon's new departure motion," the Kansas Appellate Court wrote in its decision.

The district court interpreted the appellate court's decision as mandating that Dixon be resentenced to the maximum 108-year term during his resentencing hearing and rejected his request for a durational departure. Sedgwick County District Court is again tasked with resentencing Dixon but must allow him to request a durational departure.