State v. Prickett

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedMay 8, 2026
Docket125711
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Prickett (State v. Prickett) 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. Prickett, (kanctapp 2026).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 125,711

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

MARK D. PRICKETT, Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; ERIC WILLIAMS, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed May 8, 2026. Affirmed.

Randall L. Hodgkinson, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Kris W. Kobach, attorney general, for appellee.

Before PICKERING, P.J., SCHROEDER and HURST, JJ.

PICKERING, J.: Mark D. Prickett was convicted in a jury trial of seven counts of indecent liberties with a child. He appeals the district court's denial of his motion for a continuance, the district court's jury instructions defining intentionally, and whether the State sufficiently proved venue in Sedgwick County on counts 6 and 7. After review, we find no error by the district court and affirm.

1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In October 2018, the State charged Prickett with seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Two counts were for actions between 2007 and 2008 against D.P. at Prickett's home in Sedgwick County. Three counts were for actions between 2014 and 2016 against H.H. at Prickett's home in Sedgwick County. The last two counts were for actions at Cheney Lake in 2018: one count committed against T.B. and the other against M.H.

Sometime between 2007 and 2008, when D.P. was four years old, Prickett engaged in touching D.P.'s genitals and had the child do the same to Prickett. From 2014 to 2016, when H.H. was 10-12 years old, Prickett touched H.H. over and under her clothes on her vagina and breasts at his home in Sedgwick County. In 2018, Prickett took seven-year-old T.B. and eight-year-old M.H. to Cheney Lake. At Cheney Lake, all three skinny dipped. Prickett touched T.B.'s butt and penis, and Prickett touched M.H.'s butt, breasts, and vagina.

The district court appointed trial counsel after the prior counsel withdrew on October 5, 2020. The jury trial with new counsel was originally scheduled to begin in February 2022, but, due to defense counsel's health problems and illness from COVID- 19, the district court granted a continuance until August 2022. At the January 2022 status conference, defense counsel noted that in July 2022 he had a trial, but he could be prepared in August for Prickett's trial.

On the day the jury trial was set to begin, Prickett moved to continue the trial for more time to prepare, with the understanding that scheduling could mean another six months until trial began. At the hearing on his motion to continue the trial date, trial counsel asked for the continuance for three reasons: (1) Trial counsel and Prickett needed more time to review and discuss the evidence and prepare for the trial; (2) trial

2 counsel had just received the transcript for the hearing on the State's request to admit evidence under K.S.A. 60-455; and (3) trial counsel needed additional time to coordinate with a possible witness about testifying. Defense counsel advised: "I had another week- long jury trial about a month ago, and I just, unfortunately, haven't had the time, really, to get over and––and talk with [Prickett] as much about the case as I would have liked to and he would have liked to." Defense counsel also stated that he only acquired the transcript of the pretrial motion hearing that morning.

The State was ready to proceed and had arranged a witness to fly in from Florida. The State noted that it could be of some expense to rearrange the flight but also that the airplane ticket could possibly be used for a later date. The State did not object to the motion but was prepared to go to trial. Defense counsel explained "he's facing seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties, potentially seven 25-to-life sentences. And I understand it's been a long time coming, but we really need to be prepared for this case, and I regret that I'm here telling you that I'm not."

When reviewing the timeline of Prickett's case, the district court stated:

"When I look at the history of this case, it is an 18 CR case. The first jury trial control setting was in May, May 10th, 2019. And I understand counsel has not been the counsel throughout this whole process. That being said, the first firm trial setting was October 21st, 2019, and there was motions heard and ultimately continued from February 14th, 2022 to the current date. So six months ago, in order for us to be prepared and ready to go on this trial."

The district court denied Prickett's motion for a continuance. The district court did give Prickett the option to begin the trial that day or Prickett and defense counsel could review the case and jury selection could begin the next day. Prickett decided to take the day to prepare and proceed with jury selection the next day.

3 On counts 6 and 7, both T.B. and M.H. testified that the actions occurred at Cheney Lake. Detective Latavia Allen testified about where the actions occurred. The State showed Allen a map and asked Allen how many counties "are involved over Cheney Lake." Allen responded, "Three . . . . There's Sedgwick County, Kingman County, and Reno County." Allen acknowledged that, when a crime occurs on a body of water that borders multiple counties, the law provided jurisdiction to officers of those counties.

In closing, the State described the element of intent:

"So he has to intend that this is a sexual matter. He's going to either try to arouse himself, the children, or both. That intent has to be there. I'm touching them because I'm getting sexually aroused. I want these kids to be sexually aroused, or maybe both of us sexually aroused. .... "The issue of intent. I want you to think about a couple of things the evidence shows to you. And this is what the law says, it has to be his conscious objective to do the act complained about by the State. He's got to mean, I have to intend to be sexually aroused. I'm doing this for his own pleasure; right? That's his intent."

The State's culpable mental state jury instruction stated: "A defendant acts intentionally when it is the defendant's desire or conscious objective to do the act complained about by the State." Prickett did not define "intentionally" in his proposed jury instructions. Prickett also did not object to the jury instructions defining the elements of the crime. He only asked for the instructions to be modified based on the location. The final jury instructions included the State's definition of intentionally.

A jury convicted Prickett on all seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Before sentencing, Prickett moved for a new trial, listing (1) the district court's denial of his continuance motion; (2) the erroneous admission of K.S.A. 60-455 evidence

4 of alleged prior bad acts; (3) insufficient evidence supporting Prickett's seven convictions; and (4) the "interests of justice" demanded a new trial. The district court denied the motion and sentenced Prickett to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

Prickett appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion When It Denied Prickett's Motion for a Continuance

Preservation

Prickett argues that the first issue is preserved, stating:

"Just prior to the start of trial, defense counsel moved for a continuance.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Anthony
898 P.2d 1109 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1995)
State v. Gentry
449 P.3d 429 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2019)
State v. Crosby
479 P.3d 167 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2021)
State v. Euler
492 P.3d 1147 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2021)
State v. Beaman
286 P.3d 876 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2012)
State v. Flack
541 P.3d 717 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2024)
State v. Peters
555 P.3d 1134 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2024)
State v. Mendez
559 P.3d 792 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2024)
State v. Barnes
563 P.3d 1255 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2025)
State v. Younger
564 P.3d 744 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2025)
State v. Hollins
564 P.3d 778 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2025)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Prickett, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prickett-kanctapp-2026.