The Kansas Supreme Court today upheld the sentences of Louis Cotton, including a first-degree murder sentence of life in prison.
Cotton was found guilty in November 1988 in Wyandotte County District Court of murder, and also was found guilty of other charges including aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and theft, according to court documents. He also pleaded guilty to forgery. Cotton is now 87 years old.
Twenty-six years after his convictions, Cotton filed pro se motions to set aside the judgment, claiming it was an illegal sentence, according to the Supreme Court records. He gave eight reasons where he said the district court had erred.
His appeals case was originally thrown out of the lower court because he did not appeal in time. He appealed that decision.
As part of its decision today, the Supreme Court stated that a motion to correct an illegal sentence should not be used to reverse a conviction, but solely to correct a sentence. The court added this motion to correct an illegal sentence was the wrong vehicle for an attack on the convictions.