A judge found Tuesday that the county’s incoming chief prosecutor gave ineffective representation last year as defense attorney for a man charged with aggravated assault.

Douglas County District Court Judge Jack Murphy found that newly elected Dist. Atty. Charles Branson was ineffective as Timothy L. Turner’s court-appointed defense attorney because he didn’t fully investigate Turner’s criminal history during plea negotiations. Turner entered a plea last year to aggravated assault after being told he’d get probation, but when a pre-sentencing investigation found he had a juvenile felony on his criminal record, he was sentenced to 27 months in prison in accordance with the state’s sentencing grid.

“Charles Branson told me I was getting probation, so I thought it was a done deal,” Turner said Tuesday in court.

Murphy found that Branson “could have easily checked” Turner’s criminal history during plea negotiations but didn’t. Murphy also found the mistake was significant enough that it caused Turner to take a plea when he otherwise wouldn’t have.

The ruling means the Kansas Court of Appeals likely will send the case back to the county for new charges.

Branson said he disagreed that he was ineffective.

“I am happy for Mr. Turner that he’s going to get to do this over,” he said.

After Turner’s criminal-history score came to light, Branson filed motions asking the judge to set aside the guilty plea and to give Turner a lighter sentence than the one set forth by sentencing guidelines.

Murphy denied both motions, and Branson filed an appeal. On appeal, Turner’s attorney raised the issue of ineffective counsel, and the Kansas Court of Appeals sent the case back to Douglas County for Murphy to decide whether Branson was ineffective.

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Branson alleged prior to Turner’s sentencing that prosecutors failed to give him information they had about his client’s criminal history. But Assistant Dist. Atty. Brad Burke said he offered to look up Turner’s history for Branson.

“Mr. Branson’s response was he did not need it, that he’s represented Mr. Turner many times in the past,” Burke said.

Turner was charged with threatening the mother of his children with a knife, an allegation he denies.

In a hearing such as Tuesday’s, the prosecutor’s job is to argue the defendant had effective representation or, if it was ineffective, that it didn’t change the outcome. Because of a conflict of interest — Branson defeated Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney last month — a special prosecutor from Johnson County, Scott Toth, argued the case.

Toth argued that though there were problems with the way Branson handled the case, they weren’t significant enough to have changed the outcome.

“The record is very clear that counsel provided more than adequate representation on all other issues throughout the pendency of this case,” Toth wrote.