KS high court affirms district court ruling in Colson murder trial

By Salina Post

In a published decision today, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed an Ottawa County District Court decision in Robert Willard Colson's trial for the murder of Matt Schoshke.

Schoshke was murdered in his Tescott home in August of 2017.

Colson had appealed his convictions for felony murder, intentional second-degree murder, felony theft of a firearm, felony theft of a vehicle, and burglary.

According to court documents, Colson challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions and the district court's denial of his request for a lesser included instruction on voluntary manslaughter.

The Supreme Court unanimously concluded sufficient evidence existed to support a finding that:

1. Colson was present inside his victim's residence;
2. the jury was not required to stack inferences in order to convict Colson;
3. sufficient evidence existed to support a finding Colson killed his victim either while in flight from the theft of the victim's handgun or as part of the res gestae of the theft; and
4. no evidence was presented of legally sufficient provocation, rendering a lesser included instruction on voluntary manslaughter factually inappropriate.