photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Benjamin L. Mims appears at a hearing on April 25, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A Lawrence man was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in a fentanyl death case on Friday, and he now faces a July trial in the case.

Benjamin Zed Mims, 37, pleaded guilty on May 17 to one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of unlawful distribution of fentanyl, as the Journal-World reported. He was originally charged with distribution of a controlled substance causing death, a more severe felony.

Mims was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea on Friday after Judge Amy Hanley determined that both the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald, and Mims’ then-defense attorney, Dakota Loomis, who is now the district attorney, were misinformed about Mims’ criminal history when negotiating a plea agreement.

The attorneys made the deal believing that Mims’ criminal history meant he would face between six and eight years in prison for the manslaughter plea. However, after court personnel fully investigated Mims’ criminal history, it was determined that Kansas law recommended about 20 years in prison for the conviction. The plea agreement recommended 6.5 years and listed Mims’ criminal history as low to mid-range, when in fact his criminal history was the highest possible according to Kansas sentencing guidelines.

Judges are not bound by sentencing recommendations in plea agreements but must follow state guidelines, which are based on a defendant’s criminal history and the severity of the conviction.

“Mr. Mims is concerned about the number of months he now faces in front of the sentencing judge, because it is considerably higher than what he thought it was,” Hanley said.

Mims was scheduled to be sentenced in June of 2024 but Loomis asked to delay the sentencing to investigate Mims’ criminal history further.

However, before Mims could be sentenced, Loomis withdrew from the case after winning the Democratic primary in the Douglas County district attorney race.

Mims was then appointed public defender Jessica Glendening. He was set to be sentenced on Feb. 20, but Glendening filed a motion to withdraw Mims’ plea and argued that Loomis had been “deficient” in representing Mims.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Attorney Jessica Glendening, left, prepares to hand evidence to Judge Amy Hanley just after questioning District Attorney Dakota Loomis, right, during a hearing on Feb. 20, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

Glendening said that Loomis had failed to investigate Mims’ criminal history prior to making the plea agreement and that Loomis did not adequately prepare for trial.

Loomis testified about his trial preparations at that February hearing and said that he was unable to review Mims’ juvenile criminal record prior to negotiating the plea agreement. Court records indicate that Mims was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated robbery as a juvenile.

Loomis said that when he was representing Mims, those juvenile conviction records were more difficult to obtain prior to the introduction of a new statewide filing system. Loomis said he was prepared for trial and had discussed with Mims that their primary strategy would be to impeach testimony from the key witness, Logan Morgan.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis testifies on Feb. 20, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

Hanley rejected Glendening’s arguments on Friday.

“The court does not agree that the defendant was not represented by competent counsel as far as what has been argued,” Hanley said,

She said that both the state and the defense were misinformed about Mims’ criminal history. She said the first time anyone on the record even mentioned that Mims could be sentenced to 20 years in prison was when she herself noticed it at Mims’ plea hearing.

After allowing the plea to be withdrawn, Hanley scheduled Mims for trial on July 3.

Mims is charged in the fentanyl-overdose death of 18-year-old Mohamadi “MJ” Tompson Issa Jr. Mims was named as the drug supplier by Morgan, who testified for the state in multiple fentanyl death cases, as the Journal-World reported.