State v. Sands

── State v. Sands ── Court: Court of Appeals of Kansas Date: May 15, 2026 Category: General NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION No. 127,903 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. CARL THOMAS SANDS, Appellant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Appeal from Leavenworth District Court; CLINTON LEE, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed May 15, 2026. Affirmed. Merideth J. Hogan, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant. Tyler W. Winslow, assistant solicitor general, and Kris W. Kobach, attorney general, for appellee. Before WARNER, C.J., ATCHESON and CLINE, JJ. CLINE, J.: Carl Thomas Sands seeks a new trial after being convicted of alternative counts of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer. He claims the district court erred in denying his motion in limine and the prosecutor erred by making improper statements in closing. After reviewing the record, we find the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Sands' motion because the evidence he sought to exclude was relevant and not unduly prejudicial. And even assuming the prosecutor's statements were erroneous, we find the errors harmless. We therefore affirm the district court's decision and Sands' convictions. 1  FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On August 26, 2022, Richard and Joshua DeMaranville reported to police that they discovered the workshop door of their recently deceased neighbor, Marcus "Mark" Spencer, was open and the lock had been broken. When Richard fixed the lock, he noticed tire tracks on the property and that several items were missing. The next day, Richard saw strangers pull into Spencer's property in an SUV-type vehicle and a Chevrolet truck pulling an enclosed trailer. Richard called Joshua and told him that they needed to go see what was going on. When confronted by the DeMaranvilles, the strangers claimed that Marcus Spencer was their uncle and they were coming to clean up the property. But the DeMaranvilles, who had known Spencer for at least 15 years, knew that he did not have any nephews. They also noted that no one ever called Spencer by the name Marcus—he went by his nickname, Mark. Around this time, Sands came from the shop and said, "'It's got a new lock on it already,'" or "'They changed the lock,'" which also made the DeMaranvilles suspicious. One of the strangers then pulled out a gun and pointed it at them, so Richard called 911 and told Joshua to do the same. As the strangers began to leave, the DeMaranvilles saw Sands get into the truck and start to drive off the property. Although Richard was unsuccessful in his attempt to block the vehicles from leaving the property, Joshua managed to take a picture of the truck with the trailer. Joshua then called a neighbor, Lynn Looney, for help. Joshua told Looney that the previous intruders had returned to Spencer's property and were shooting at him. So, Looney picked up Joshua and they gave chase. 2  When Looney tried to pull alongside the truck to see if they could read the license plate, the SUV driver began shooting at him. Looney backed off and returned fire but was unsure if he had hit anything. Looney and Joshua continued their chase while on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, informing the dispatcher of the directions that the truck and SUV were traveling. At one point, Leavenworth County Sheriff's Deputy Adam Munoz spotted the vehicles, activated his lights, and began following the truck. The deputy saw the truck driver run stop signs and lights, speed over 100 miles per hour, and cross over into oncomin