TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed a sentence given to a man who was pleaded guilty to killing a Junction City woman and her unborn child on Christmas Day in 2018.
The court on Friday upheld the sentence of Dion Jamal Green.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of felony first-degree murder in the deaths of 31-year-old Jenna Schafer, of Junction City, and her unborn child. He was sentenced to consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Green challenged the procedures the Geary County District Court used to sentence him. But the court unanimously affirmed the sentences.
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By WIBW TV
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The man convicted of the murder of a Junction City woman and her unborn baby will stay behind bars.
In the matter of Appeal No. 123,419: State of Kansas v. Dion Jamal Green, the Kansas Supreme Court said Green pleaded guilty to two counts of felony first-degree murder and was sentenced to consecutive life sentences with a mandatory minimum of 25 years for each before becoming eligible for parole.
On appeal, the Court said Green challenged the procedures the Geary Co. District Court used to impose the sentences.
The Court said it found competent evidence that supported the district court’s references to Green having committed the murders in the hope of getting paid.
The Court also said it found no mistakes were made in the district court’s decision to not continue sentencing to allow Green’s mother to speak in person on his behalf.
In fact, the Court said it was Green who proposed to allow a video transmission to substitute for live testimony and he did not challenge the quality of the video transmission at the time of sentencing.
Green was sentenced in 2020 for the 2018 Christmas murder of Jenna Schafer and her baby in Junction City.