District Attorney Suzanne Valdez: State to Appeal Trey L. Gibson Sentencing Decision

District Attorney Suzanne Valdez today announced that the State is appealing the District Court’s decision to grant probation to a man convicted of one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of criminal threat. 

“Kansas law provides a narrow set of circumstances under which the State is authorized to appeal a district court’s rulings,” Valdez said. “The State is exercising that statutory right and is seeking a review of this decision in the interest of justice for sexual assault survivors and community safety.” 

On June 28, 2022, the District Court sentenced Trey L. Gibson, 20, of Lawrence, to 10.5 years in prison. The court then suspended that sentence, placing Gibson on a five-year term of probation. At the sentencing hearing, Senior Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Vrana argued that the court should follow the presumption of imprisonment, but the court departed from that presumption.