A Kansas judge has denied Grant County Sheriff Ray Vance’s request to withdraw his no-contest plea in connection with a 2010 hunting-license charge, a Kansas prosecutor said Friday.
Jewell County, Kan., District Attorney Darrell Miller said District Judge Kim Cudney ruled Thursday that Vance, 59, waited too long to enter his request.
“The judge said he was out of time and should have filed the motion within a year of when he entered his plea,” Miller said, citing Kansas law.
“His next step is to take his case to the Kansas Court of Appeals.”
Messages left for Vance and his Kansas attorney, Nels P. Noel, were not immediately returned Friday. However, Vance’s legal team previously has maintained that the court improperly handled the plea by not advising the sheriff of his full rights under Kansas law.
Vance, who has served as Grant County sheriff since 2010, entered a no-contest plea Nov. 3, 2010, to one count of false representation to secure a lifetime Kansas hunting license, according to court documents.
In February, Arkansas officials filed a petition to remove Vance from office, claiming that his misdemeanor conviction in Kansas rose to the level of an “infamous crime,” court documents show.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that an infamous crime includes an offense involving the elements of deceit or dishonesty.
Special prosecutor Jack McQuary has pulled the petition to remove Vance from office until the appeals process in Kansas has been exhausted.
McQuary said Friday that he had not yet heard that the judge had denied Vance’s bid.
McQuary has said previously that one of the major issues with Vance’s plea dealt with the sheriff opting to represent himself in court.
“Sufficient warnings of the dangers of self-representations were not given to him,” the special prosecutor said.
Further, McQuary said, Vance waived his right to an attorney without the court’s approval, which is required by law.
According to an Aug. 24, 2010, report from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Vance claimed residency in Kansas “to fraudulently obtain a Kansas resident lifetime hunting license by switching his driver’s license from Arkansas to Kansas, then switching his driver’s license back to Arkansas.”
The report said Vance owned a house in Mankato, Kan., across the street from another Arkansas man who also reportedly obtained a lifetime hunting license fraudulently.
The report further states Vance “admitted that he was a resident of Arkansas and had been for many years.”
In addition, according to the report, the sheriff “committed similar wildlife crimes,” turning over to the government “the antlers from two illegal Kansas deer,” his lifetime license and “the beards from two turkeys he said he killed in Kansas” while he had the license.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/26/2013