PAWNEE COUNTY– Shelby Lee Starr, 49 of Great Bend, appeared in the Pawnee County District Court this week for jury trial regarding two Jessica’s Law offenses.
An all-male jury was selected on Monday. Opening statements were scheduled to commence Tuesday morning. Prior to the formal swearing in of the jury, the parties announced they had reached a plea agreement whereby the defendant entered an Alford plea of guilt to a single count of Aggravated Indecent Liberties with a child under the age of 14, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.
In addition, the State agreed to allow Starr to be sentenced pursuant to the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines and dismiss the additional count.
As part of the plea agreement, Starr agreed to waive his right to appeal the conviction and will be subject to lifetime Sex Offender Registration.
In support of the plea, Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett advised the Court that had the matter proceeded to trial the evidence would have shown that in February of 2023 DCF received a mandatory-reporter referral from a school counselor that one of their students had disclosed they had been touched inappropriately by their father’s friend named “Shelby,” when the student was six years old.
The disclosure occurred after the local Child Advocacy Center had given a presentation to middle school students about “good touch and bad touch.” The subsequent DCF investigation identified Shelby Starr as the alleged perpetrator. In a forensic interview, the student disclosed the defendant had first touched her when she was at her grandfather’s Larned residence in 2016. The defendant touched her again when she and her family were at Starr’s Larned residence in July of 2017. The Larned Police Department assisted with the investigation.
McNett further advised the Court that pursuant to the Kansas Crime Victims’ Act he had consulted with the victim and her family prior to entering into plea negotiations, and that they we in support of the presented plea agreement.
After accepting the defendant’s plea as being knowingly and voluntarily made, Pawnee County District Judge Bruce Gatterman advised Starr of his duty to register as sex offender under the Kansas Offender Registration Act and ordered a presentence investigation report be completed to determine the defendant’s criminal history. Sentencing will be scheduled for a later date.
Under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines the defendant faces a presumptive prison sentence between 59 months and 247 months in the custody of the Department of Corrections depending on his criminal history.
The name, Alford plea, is taken from the case North Carolina v. Alford and is sometimes referred to a "best-interests plea," whereby the defendant registers a formal admission of guilt towards charges in criminal court while simultaneously expressing their innocence toward those same charges. An Alford-type guilty plea means the defendant decided it would be better to take a known sentence than to take their chances in a criminal jury trial.
Members of the Salina Chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse were present at the jury proceeding in support of the child victim.
Starr was arrested in Barton County on April 1, 2023, without incident. He has been in the custody of the Pawnee County Sheriff since his arrest. -Starr has been registered as a sex offender since 2001 for child sex crime convictions in Georgia, according to the Kansas Offender Registry