Dean Oliver Tapedo

Topeka ? A panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the conviction of a Lawrence man who received two life prison sentences in connection with sex crimes involving a 6-year-old girl.

Dean Oliver Tapedo, now 40, was found guilty in 2012 by a Douglas County jury of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy.

He was sentenced in January 2013 to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 25 years.

He had been accused of sexually assaulting the girl in her bed in October 2011.

At his sentencing hearing, Tapedo alleged his attorney was ineffective. Douglas County District Court Judge Barbara Kay Huff allowed Tapedo’s attorney to withdraw from the case and appointed a new one.

The new attorney filed a motion for acquittal or a new trial. The motions were denied.

On appeal, Tapedo argued that during the trial his attorney failed to file a motion to suppress Tapedo’s statement to police and failed to object during trial to the introduction of Tapedo’s statement to police.

But the appeals court panel said that because Tapedo did not raise these issues during the sentencing hearing, they could not be considered on appeal.

Tapedo also argued that the district court should have made sure during jury selection that every member of the jury was a resident of Douglas County. But the appeals panel said the record shows that the potential jurors all had Douglas County addresses.

“Therefore, even if we were to agree that the better practice would have been for the district court to ask jurors on the record if anyone resided outside Douglas County, Tapedo fails to allege or provide any evidence establishing that a single member of the jury was not a Douglas County resident,” the court said.

Tapedo is serving his sentence in the Lansing Correctional Facility, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.