Amber Boeken and Rhonda Jackson will not spend as much time in prison as previously thought for their roles in the March 2016 killing of Iolan Shawn Cook.
District Judge Daniel Creitz sentenced Boeken on Tuesday to 117 months in prison, and Jackson on Thursday to 49 months half of what he originally called for after realizing his first sentences were improper.
The issue centered on Creitzs usage of the double-double rule, which allows judges to double a defendants prison sentence if a jury finds there were aggravating circumstances surrounding a defendants conviction.
Boeken pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder; Jackson to involuntary manslaughter. As such, neither had any such aggravating circumstances cited by a jury for Creitz to consider.
When he sentenced Boeken on July 23, Creitz called Cooks murder a horrible death over drugs and debt, comments he echoed a day later when he said he intended to double Jacksons sentence as well.
However, the improper usage of the double-double rule was brought to Creitzs attention through a joint letter signed earlier this month by Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway and Mary Stevenson, Boekens attorney.
After researching the matter, Creitz conceded his original sentences were improper.
I do not have the authority for a double-double sentence, Creitz said Thursday.
Officially, only Boeken was resentenced, because Creitz had not yet formally handed down Jacksons punishment when the error was found.
Both will be given credit for time served more than two years for both.
Jacksons sentence means she is scheduled to be released sometime in 2020, or earlier, if she is given credit for good behavior behind bars. Kansas sentencing guidelines allow prisoners to deduct as much as 20 percent of their sentence for good behavior.
Boeken is scheduled to be released in 2026, potentially earlier for good behavior.
Both Boeken and Jackson testified against Joshua Knapp, who was found guilty by a jury in July of first-degree murder.
Cook was stabbed to death the night of March 13, 2016, within days after he reportedly jilted Jackson on a drug sale. Boeken testified she took part in the killing by accompanying Knapp to a rural spot in Allen County, where Cook first was stabbed, then later to the Neosho River, where Cook was killed and left behind. Boeken testified Knapp stabbed Cook; Knapps attorney, John Boyd, alleged in the trial it was Boeken who did the killing.
Cooks disappearance sparked a two-week manhunt before his body was found along the Neosho River northwest of Iola in southern Coffey County.
