The Kansas Supreme Court vacated the sentence of a Wichita man who ran over a woman in a Dillons parking lot in 2015 and ordered that he be resentenced in Sedgwick County District Court.
The ruling Friday involves the sentence given to Christopher J. Schrader in January 2016. Schrader pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 69 months in prison.
Police say Schrader ran over Annette Hedke in the parking lot of the Dillons at 21st Street and Rock. Hedke, who had fallen near her vehicle, later died at a Wichita hospital.
Schrader was arrested and charged with several crimes, including driving with a suspended license. Some of the charges were dismissed as part of his no contest plea.
The Supreme Court said Schrader's criminal history score – which was used in determining his sentence – included a July 2012 DUI conviction in Wichita Municipal Court. Because the city’s DUI ordinance differed somewhat from state law, the court ruled that the conviction could not be counted as a person felony in determining Schrader's criminal history score.
The Supreme Court’s ruling upheld a similar ruling by the Court of Appeals. Both courts said Schrader should be resentenced without the Wichita DUI conviction being scored as a person felony.
Schrader, 25, currently is an inmate at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
Tom Shine is the director of news and public affairs at KMUW. Follow him on Twitter @thomaspshine.
