LARNED, Kan. – In an unpublished opinion released Friday morning, the Kansas Court of Appeals found that Pawnee County District Judge Bruce Gatterman properly denied a motion for new trial filed by James Edwin Speer, 34 formerly of Scott City and Larned, related to his 2024 Pawnee County conviction for felony sex crimes.
Speer is currently in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections serving a life sentence for his Pawnee County sex offense convictions.
Speer was found Guilty by the Court on July 10, 2024, following a three-day bench trial, of Rape of a Child Under 14 years of age and guilty of Aggravated Oral Sodomy of a Child Under 14 years of age.
The crimes were alleged to have occurred at a residence in Garfield, Kansas on or about May 25 th or 26 th in 2013, involving an 8 year old girl. At trial, the defendant presented an Alibi defense arguing it was impossible for him to have committed the alleged acts as he was with another girl at the time. The defendant took the stand on his own behalf and testified that he had not been present at the party in Garfield at which the sexual assault occurred. As part of the evidence at trial, the parties stipulated that in 2015 a Pawnee County Jury convicted James Edwin Speer of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a 14 year old child occurring on or about 24 th day of May to on or about the 7 th day of June, 2013; and on or about 7 th day of June to on or about the 30th day of June, 2013.
The basis of the defendant’s motion for new trial stemmed from a new witness coming forwarded after reading the County Attorney’s Press Release related to the conviction. The identity of the witness was immediately disclosed to the defense; the new witness was then interviewed by law enforcement and presented testimony at the hearing on the Defendant’s Motion for New Trial. After hearing the potential new testimony, Judge Gatterman ruled that while it met the criteria for newly discovered evidence as it would not have otherwise been available to the State or defense at the time of the trial, said testimony would not have impacted the outcome of the verdict as the victim had identified Speer as her assailant and that the testimony of the new witness contradicted the defendant’s own alibi defense.
At sentencing on the 2024 conviction, Judge Gatterman found that Speer met the statutory criteria of an Aggravated Habitual Sex Offender having been convicted of at least two prior sexually violent crimes. As such, the Court sentenced the defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The defendant will also be subject to lifetime offender registration as a sex offender.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Douglas W. McNett
Pawnee County Attorney
Pawnee County Courthouse
715 Broadway
Larned KS 67550
