Kansas prisoner’s attempt to ‘correct’ decades-old sentence in Douglas County denied — again

Ibraheem R. Ali

Once again, Ibraheem R. Ali has come from prison to Douglas County to attempt to overturn a 20-year-old sentence. Once again, he’s been returned to prison with that sentence intact.

Since 1998, the year Ali was imprisoned for his most recent conviction, he has filed repeated motions to “correct an illegal sentence” in Douglas County District Court. He’s been released and transported to Douglas County for court hearings six times since 1998, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. As he pursued his most recent effort, Ali spent six months in the Douglas County jail.

Last week, on Feb. 26, Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny denied Ali’s latest motion to correct an illegal sentence and other related motions, according to the District Attorney’s office. Ali was booked into the Douglas County jail Sept. 5, 2017, according to jail records, and returned to KDOC’s Hutchinson Correctional Facility on Feb. 28, according to KDOC records.

Ali, 43, aka Stephen R. Dorsey, has repeatedly challenged his sentence in numerous court filings he’s been authoring himself from prison, as well as filings from the attorney appointed for his most recent Douglas County hearings, Adam Hall.

According to his case file and KDOC records, 20 years ago a Douglas County jury convicted Ali of two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of kidnapping. His resulting sentence was longer because he committed those crimes while on parole for other felonies, burglary and multiple counts of aggravated robbery.

Ali’s arguments have included that the presentence report used to calculate his criminal history score was not right, and also that the sentence as written was not clear.

So far, his arguments haven’t stuck. A 2017 Kansas Court of Appeals memorandum opinion — affirming Pokorny’s rejection of a motion Ali filed in 2016 — summarizes the case background: Ali was ordered to serve consecutive prison sentences in two 1993 felony convictions, and got parole. But while on parole, he committed new crimes. For the 1998 crimes, the district court sentenced him to 194 months, to be served consecutively to the two older sentences already ordered to run consecutively (so, back-to-back-to-back, as opposed to overlapping).

“Ali did not object to his criminal history at sentencing,” the appeals court opinion said. “… It is clear to us that Ali’s sentences, viewed as a whole, are unambiguous with regard to the time and manner in which they are to be served.”

— I’m the Journal-World’s public safety reporter. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com or by phone at 785-832-7187. I’m also on Twitter, @saramarieshep.