Chief Judge F. William Cullins to sit with Kansas Supreme Court on January 26

TOPEKA — Chief Judge F. William Cullins of the 14th Judicial District has been appointed to sit with the Kansas Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in one case on the court's January 26 docket. After hearing oral arguments, Cullins will join Supreme Court justices in their deliberations and opinion drafting.

“I am pleased that Judge Cullins is taking time from his duties in the 14th Judicial District to sit with the Supreme Court,” said Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. “It's a great help to our court, and we look forward to his contributions deliberating this case.”

Cullins said, “I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to sit with some of the best legal minds in the country.”

Cullins has served as district judge in the 14th Judicial District since 2006 and chief judge since 2015. He presides over cases in Chautauqua and Montgomery counties.

Cullins is a native of Caney. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Before becoming a judge, he was Montgomery County attorney, Coffeyville city prosecutor, and he worked in a private law practice.

All Supreme Court oral arguments are webcast live through the Watch Supreme Court Live! Link in the right-hand column of the Kansas Judicial Branch website at www.kscourts.org.

The case Cullins will hear is the first one scheduled on the Supreme Court's 9 a.m. docket Friday, January 26:

Appeal No. 112,556: Danny E. Beauclair v. State of Kansas

Shawnee County: (Petition for Review) Beauclair pleaded no contest to multiple sex crimes. Beauclair filed a K.S.A. 60-1507 motion alleging his innocence and a conflict of interest by his trial attorney. Without a hearing, the district court denied Beauclair's motion as untimely because he failed to demonstrate any manifest injustice that would exempt him from the one-year time limit for habeas corpus relief under K.S.A. 60-1507. A Court of Appeals panel affirmed. Issue on review is whether the district court properly dismissed Beauclair's K.S.A. 60-1507 motion as untimely.