Hutchinson ? A Reno County District Court judge says he won’t hand down any more sentences for methamphetamine convictions until the Kansas Supreme Court clarifies state sentencing guidelines.

Several other area judges said they will continue to sentence meth makers, despite uncertainty.

Judge Richard Rome said all meth sentences in his court will have to wait until the Supreme Court rules on a Reno County case involving a man charged with meth-related crimes.

Rome says he doesn’t know whether to go along with state Supreme Court rulings earlier this year that granted lesser sentences.

If considered a Level 1 drug crime, manufacture of methamphetamine carries a prison sentence of up to 12 years. But rulings from the high court this year have established a lower level for the crime, with maximum sentences of four years and three months.

One of the high court’s rulings involved Brian Keith McAdams of Anderson County, who the court found earlier this year was illegally sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture meth.

The court cited a 1973 state law that carries a 14-month penalty and possible probation for the crime, which conflicts with a 1990 statute carrying harsher sentences.

The Kansas Legislature passed a law earlier this year that required the tougher penalties to apply, but the Supreme Court has favored the lesser sentences for people convicted before the law went into effect on May 20.

“My concern is the question of legislative intent and how the Supreme Court chooses to interpret that,” Rome said.