State v. Morgan

── State v. Morgan ── Court: Court of Appeals of Kansas Date: June 05, 2026 Category: General NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION No. 129,662 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. RAMONA MORGAN, Appellant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Appeal from Douglas District Court; AMY J. HANLEY, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed June 5, 2026. Affirmed. Submitted by the parties for summary disposition pursuant to K.S.A. 21-6820(g) and (h). Before WARNER, C.J., ARNOLD-BURGER, J., and LAURA JOHNSON-MCNISH, District Judge, assigned. PER CURIAM: Ramona Morgan appeals the district court's denial of her motion to correct an illegal sentence. We granted Morgan's motion for summary disposition under Supreme Court Rule 7.041A (2026 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 48). After carefully reviewing the record and the arguments in Morgan's motion, we affirm the district court's judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The tragic underlying facts of this case are known to the parties and have been previously recounted by panels of this court. In short: 1  "In September 2007, Morgan drove her pickup truck at a high rate of speed through a construction zone on U.S. 59 Highway where a crew was resurfacing the road, striking and killing two workers and injuring a third worker. Morgan's adult daughter Sabrina was a passenger in the truck. Morgan claimed she and Sabrina were being pursued by a band of thugs apparently intent on harming them because of a failed real estate deal in rural Missouri." Morgan v. State, No. 109,099, 2014 WL 5609935, at *1 (Kan. App. 2014) (unpublished opinion) (Morgan II), rev. denied 302 Kan. 1011 (2015). Morgan was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in Douglas County (Case No. 2007-CR-1481). The district court sentenced her to 315 months' imprisonment. State v. Morgan, No. 101,769, 2010 WL 2245604, at *2 (Kan. App.) (unpublished opinion) (Morgan I), rev. denied 290 Kan. 1101 (2010). Morgan's convictions and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. 2010 WL 2245604, at *1. Morgan was also convicted of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer in Osage County (Case No. 2007-CR-207). Morgan's convictions were upheld on direct appeal. See State v. Morgan, No. 100,700, 2009 WL 3737420, at *1 (Kan. App. 2009) (unpublished opinion), rev. denied 290 Kan. 1101 (2010). Morgan filed many collateral appeals attacking the Douglas County case in both state and federal courts; not all are recounted here. Morgan began in 2011 in state court, filing a motion under K.S.A. 60-1507 raising multiple ineffective assistance of counsel claims against both trial and appellate counsel, but the motion was denied. Morgan II, 2014 WL 5609935, at *12. In 2019, Morgan filed another motion construed as a second K.S.A. 60-1507 motion, and again the court denied relief, finding the motion was untimely, successive, and improperly raised trial errors. State v. Morgan, No. 123,272, 2021 WL 3708017, at *3-5 (Kan. App. 2021) (unpublished opinion) (Morgan IV) (denying Morgan's second K.S.A. 60-1507 motion), rev. denied 315 Kan. 970 (2022). 2  Morgan filed three motions captioned "Motion to Correct an Illegal Sentence," "Motion for Resentencing," and "Motion for Appointment of Counsel." In June 2025, the district court denied these motions, finding that the case files and record conclusively demonstrate that Morgan is not entitled to any relief. Morgan appeals the district court's ruling. This is the fourth time M