photo by: Sara Shepherd

Tria L. Evans stands to be returned to the jail after a jury found her guilty of premeditated first-degree murder and other crimes on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019, in Douglas County District Court. After a week-long trial, jurors convicted Evans of conspiring with another woman to kill her ex Joel Wales and burn his body in November 2017 just outside Lawrence.

The state’s highest court on Friday upheld the conviction of a Lawrence woman who was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder and other crimes.

The Kansas Supreme Court announced in a news release its unanimous decision to uphold the conviction and sentence handed to Tria Evans, 41, who had challenged them through an appeal process.

Evans was sentenced to life in prison for killing her ex-boyfriend, Joel Wales, of Eudora. Evans was convicted of shooting Wales in November 2017, then setting his body on fire at his mother’s house near Lawrence.

Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff sentenced Evans, then 39, under the state’s “Hard 50” sentence. Evans must serve at least 50 years in prison before she can apply for parole, meaning she cannot be released from prison until she is nearly 90 years old.

During a Supreme Court appeal hearing in May, Corrine Gunning, Evans’ attorney, argued that the District Court erroneously allowed inadmissible evidence in the 2019 trial and abused its discretion by denying Evans a mental health evaluation prior to sentencing.

Gunning told the justices that she believed the District Court erroneously allowed hearsay to be admitted, referring to comments made by the victim and relayed by his friends at trial as “entirely circumstantial evidence.”

Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Jon Simpson argued against both claims. He also argued that if the Supreme Court agreed the evidence was admitted incorrectly, there was “abundant” other evidence that would have led the jury to the same verdict.

The court determined that the out-of-court statements were permissible because they satisfied a law that allows exceptions to legal rules that prohibit hearsay evidence. The court also determined the evidence of Evans’ earlier actions — including asking other people to kill Wales on her behalf and relaying threats to him — was legally introduced to establish a motive, premeditation, and identity, the court said in the news release.

Additionally, the court denied Evans’ claims that she was not granted a request for post-trial mental evaluation because Evans did not offer any evidence that her mental health was in question when the request was made.

“The case against Evans was conclusive,” Justice Eric Rosen wrote in the court’s published opinion.

photo by: Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home

Joel Wales

As the Journal-World previously reported, prosecutors contended during the trial that an angry, jealous and possessive Evans, who had a daughter with Wales, stalked him for years and plotted his death for months with a friend of hers, Christina Towell, of Leavenworth. Wales was shot six times before gasoline was poured over his body and lit on fire along with the house, at 1104 East 1200 Road, according to evidence presented at trial.

Towell, then 38, is also serving a life sentence for the crimes.

Neighbors called 911 when they heard gunshots and saw a female figure run to a car in the driveway as flames erupted on the front porch. Evidence also included a GPS device from the getaway car showing that it drove from Towell’s house to Evans’ house, then to the scene of the crime at the precise time of the crime, and back again.