Topeka ? A Shawnee County District Court judge has been admonished for testifying on behalf of a friend convicted of accidentally killing a hunter in Lyon County.

In a two-page order filed Friday, the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualification instructed District Judge Daniel Mitchell to “cease and desist from voluntarily testifying as a character witness.”

A canon of the Code of Judicial Conduct says in part that “a judge shall not testify voluntarily as a character witness.” “To do so may lend the prestige of the judicial office in support of the part for whom the judge testifies,” the code states.

The order said Mitchell violated the judicial canon when he testified during the sentencing of Theron Thomas Kent, 58, of Topeka, in Lyon County District Court on Aug. 12. On June 30, a Lyon County District Court jury convicted Kent of involuntary manslaughter in the Dec. 15 death of rural Americus hunter Beau Arndt, 18, who was shot with a rifle as he waited for geese in a field of decoys.

Kent was sentenced to 32 months in prison. During the sentencing, Mitchell said he hired Kent to build some fences, shared a mutual interest in riding motorcycles, had known Kent for about 20 years and considered him a friend.

Since 2002, there has been a marked change in Kent’s behavior, and he is “forthright, very honest,” Mitchell said. “He is a man of honesty,” Mitchell said of Kent, “a man of character, and I believe given the opportunity of probation, he could do everything in his power to satisfy the conditions of probation.”

In answer to the commission’s inquiry, Mitchell admitted testifying as a character witness without being required to by a subpoena.

Mitchell “acknowledged that it was a mistake to testify voluntarily, and he expressed regret for the impropriety of his action,” the commission order said.