photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Antonio Esparza

A violent offender who was facing a charge of possession of methamphetamine was allowed to plead guilty Wednesday to a lower-level felony of interference with law enforcement, and the state is recommending probation, even though the offense is a presumptive prison term under state sentencing guidelines.

The 30-year-old defendant, Antonio Esparza, is believed to have a criminal history score of “B,” the second worst score under the guidelines, which would presume that he serve 13 to 15 months in prison.

In order to depart from the sentencing guidelines, a judge must find substantial and compelling reasons to do so. No departure motion was on file for Esparza as of Wednesday, so the reasons that the parties plan to give for the departure to probation were not publicly known.

As a fact basis for Esparza’s plea to interference, prosecutor Cody Smith said officers who were investigating Esparza for meth saw him riding a bike on Sept. 20, 2024, and attempted to stop him. However, he fled into a homeless camp, hid under a blanket and refused to come out.

“Not coming out” is interference with law enforcement, Smith told the court, and that is what Esparza pleaded guilty to.

In the very first complaint, Esparza was charged with interference, plus trafficking methamphetamine in a correctional institution and possession of methamphetamine.

As the Journal-World reported, Judge Stacey Donovan interrupted Esparza’s original plea hearing Monday when it became apparent that the parties had plea-bargained using an outdated criminal complaint — not the original one, but a second one filed a month later that contained no mention of interference with law enforcement but only a single charge of meth possession.

The third amended complaint — the one that was operational Wednesday — was not publicly available, but at the plea hearing Smith said Esparza would plead to a single count of interference with law enforcement and that the state would dismiss a count of aggravated violation of the Kansas Offender Registration Act, a high-level felony under state law, which requires violent offenders like Esparza to register with the state four times a year.

Esparza’s violent offender status is based on a 2017 conviction in Douglas County of attempted aggravated burglary, for which he served time in the Kansas Department of Corrections. The case was originally charged as aggravated burglary, but Esparza pleaded down to the attempted charge, as well as to two counts of attempted robbery. He was ordered to register as a violent offender for 15 years.

Donovan scheduled Esparza’s sentencing for May 5.