Mc PHERSON, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court has denied a motion to withdraw a plea from a McPherson man convicted of murder in a case from 2012.
The state's highest court affirmed a decision from McPherson County District Court denying the motion from Dustin Smith to withdraw his plea on first degree murder. Smith was convicted in the May 2011 shooting death of 30-year-old Justin Milne whose body was found near Marion Reservoir. Smith was sentenced to life in prison without parole for 20 years.
Smith filed the motion in 2019 stating that he should be allowed to withdraw his plea because his attorney was ineffective in that he failed to "conduct a thorough investigation into his mental disease or defect." He claims that had counsel done so, there is a reasonable probability that Smith would have been found incompetent and would not have pled no contest.
The court ruled that Smith's motion was not filed within the one-year statutory time limit and denied the motion. The high court affirmed that decision.