KS Supreme Court to Hear Grant County Appeal

In March 2017, a jury convicted Michael Alan Keyes of premeditated first-degree murder. During the trial, Keyes alleged he shot the victim in self-defense because the victim had threatened him with a knife. The district court refused to give a self-defense jury instruction. The court sentenced him to a hard-50 life sentence. Issues on appeal are whether the district court erred: 1) in failing to give Keyes’ requested jury instruction on his theory of self-defense; and 2) in failing to give Keyes’ requested instruction for the lesser-included offense of involuntary manslaughter. The High Court will hear the case on Monday, December 16th.