State v. Oakley

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedSeptember 5, 2025
Docket126466
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Oakley (State v. Oakley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Oakley, (kanctapp 2025).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 126,466

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

KEITH E. OAKLEY, Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Miami District Court; RICHARD FISHER, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed September 5, 2025. Affirmed.

Grace E. Tran, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Steven J. Obermeier, assistant solicitor general, and Kris W. Kobach, attorney general, for appellee.

Before WARNER, C.J., GARDNER and HURST, JJ.

WARNER, C.J.: The COVID-19 pandemic limited the extent to which Kansas courts, and other courts across the country, could conduct in-person proceedings. This case presents an example of the difficulties associated with that timeframe. The question here is whether the delay in this case—roughly three years from the filing of most charges to the jury trial, including about a year awaiting an in-person preliminary hearing—violated the defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial. We conclude it did not.

1 Keith Oakley was charged with several serious crimes, including off-grid felony offenses, in 2019 and 2020. The pandemic intervened. Oakley requested that the preliminary hearing be conducted in person, and that in-person proceeding was not completed until February 2022. The case was eventually tried to a jury in early 2023, almost three years after most of the charges against him were filed. Before trial, Oakley moved to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that this delay was inherently unreasonable and violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial. The district court denied his request, the trial followed, and Oakley was convicted.

Oakley now argues that the district court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss. He also challenges the court's denial of a motion for a new trial based on evidence that Oakley claims was unduly prejudicial. After carefully reviewing the appellate record and the parties' arguments, we conclude the district court's rulings were sound and guided by the appropriate legal parameters. We thus affirm Oakley's convictions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In February 2023, a jury found Oakley guilty of two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count each of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, criminal restraint, and criminal damage to property. The conduct that led to these convictions occurred in December 2019. At that time, Oakley was living with the 10-year-old victim—referred to here under the pseudonym Jane—Jane's mother, and Jane's younger sibling. Oakley was not Jane's biological father, but he was married to Jane's mother.

At trial, witnesses testified about events that primarily took place on December 27 and 28, 2019. The facts giving rise to Oakley's convictions are known to the parties and largely tangential to the issues raised in this appeal. Highly summarized, Jane informed her mother that at some point that evening, after Oakley had been drinking alcohol with

2 friends at their home, Oakley attempted to kiss Jane and then restrained her in a bathroom and sexually assaulted her with his penis and orally. Jane's aunt found them in the bathroom, and Jane eventually told her mother what happened.

When confronted, Oakley denied that anything had happened and began throwing things, including his wedding ring. Jane's mother told Jane to get in the car, and Oakley followed them into the garage. As Jane's mother was backing out of the garage, Oakley tried to open the driver-side door, ripping the door handle off and then throwing it at the car. Once out of the driveway, Jane's mother pulled onto the side of the road in front of the house. She asked Jane "if it was true, if all of this had happened." Jane said "Yeah," and her mother called the police.

While parked in front of the house, Jane and her mother watched through a window as Oakley angrily packed a bag and carried the other child—who had been asleep in her room—out of the house and into his truck. Oakley then got out of the truck and walked towards the backyard. The police arrived about 10 minutes later.

After a while, Oakley surrendered to the police. He was interviewed at the police station and was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property that night.

A few days after the incident, Jane gave a forensic interview with an employee at the Kansas Department for Children and Families. And later in the investigation, a forensic scientist at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation found Oakley's DNA on a swab taken from Jane's pubic area.

3 Oakley is charged, and the COVID-19 pandemic intervenes and delays the preliminary hearing.

After being arrested in December 2019, Oakley remained in custody until January 2020, when he was released on bond. A preliminary hearing was set for March 5, but Oakley requested it be continued to accommodate his work schedule. A few weeks later, the district court continued the hearing again because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On May 22, 2020, the State dismissed the original charge of criminal damage to property. The same day, it filed another complaint charging Oakley with aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and criminal damage to property.

Oakley demanded an in-person preliminary hearing. But because of the ongoing pandemic, the earliest available date for an in-person hearing was June 30, 2021. The State later requested that the hearing be continued to September 28, 2021, because one of the State's witnesses was unavailable in June—Oakley did not object to the request.

At the beginning of the September 2021 hearing, Oakley requested a continuance, stating that he did not believe that his attorney was prepared to effectively cross-examine the witnesses since he had not yet reviewed the recording of Jane's forensic interview. Oakley requested a "lengthy continuance, perhaps 90 days." The district court denied the request but allowed Oakley and his counsel to review the video in the jury room. About an hour and a half later, the court resumed the preliminary hearing.

Later in the day, the court determined that a second day of hearings was necessary to allow the parties to present the rest of their evidence. The court scheduled the second half of the hearing for October 29. This hearing date was continued twice because of

4 unavailable witnesses, with one continuance requested by the State and the other requested by Oakley.

The preliminary hearing was ultimately completed on February 16, 2022. Based on the testimony presented there, the case was bound over for trial, and the State successfully added two more charges against Oakley: an additional charge of aggravated criminal sodomy and a charge of criminal restraint.

Oakley's case is tried in February 2023.

The court held an arraignment on the amended complaint on March 9, 2022. Oakley pleaded not guilty to the five charges and requested a jury trial, and the court scheduled the trial for the week of August 22, 2022.

Three weeks before the scheduled trial, Oakley requested that the jury trial be continued for 90 days, stating that his attorney needed more time to review all the video evidence with Oakley before trial. The district court asked Oakley personally if he wanted to continue the trial, and Oakley said, "Yes." The court clarified that "technically our time standards are suspended for getting you to trial within X number of days" and asked Oakley whether he was waiving his right to a speedy trial. Oakley answered, "Yes." The court thus continued the trial to December 12, 2022, and clarified that the delay would "not be assessed against the state."

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State v. Oakley, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-oakley-kanctapp-2025.