Convicted Kansas City, Kansas, child rapist to be freed because of prosecutor’s error

A Kansas City, Kansas, man sentenced to life in prison for raping two young children will be freed because of errors made on charging documents filed by the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office.

Josue M. Arita, 36, was found guilty during a jury trial last year of four felony counts of alleged aggravated indecent liberties with children ages 7 and 8. He was sentenced to two life terms, to be served consecutively, in Kansas prison.

But the specific crimes he was convicted of did not match the evidence presented at trial by prosecutors. Because of that mistake, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Arita’s convictions must be overturned and his sentences vacated.

Kansas City, Kansas, police investigated the allegations beginning in July 2019. During the investigation, the two children, ages 7 and 8, told forensic interviewers they were raped by Arita on occasions when he got drunk and they stayed at his home.

Initial paperwork filed by the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office alleged Arita was personally responsible for the sex crimes. But when the office filed an amended criminal complaint, a different subsection of law was referenced, instead alleging Arita allowed the children to be abused by someone else.

The appellate court rejected the arguments by the Wyandotte County prosecutors that the difference amounted to “harmless typographical errors.” The court also ruled that Arita cannot be tried again..

“When a defendant’s conviction must be reversed because the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the conviction, double jeopardy bars the State from retrying the defendant for that particular offense,” says the memo detailing the appellate court’s legal conclusions. “The State provides no justification that would permit this court to circumvent Arita’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy.”

In a statement Friday, Jonathan Carter, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said arguments were made before the appellate court that prosecutors “believed should have upheld the conviction.”

“However, the Court of Appeals disagreed and overturned the conviction,” Carter said. “We accept the court’s ruling. The defendant has been in custody for almost four years and is subject to deportation and our understanding is he will be deported.”

As of Friday, online records for the Kansas Department of Corrections showed Arita remained housed in the state prison in Hutchinson.