Governor appoints accomplished attorneys to Sentencing Commission
Group provides guidance on state sentencing guidelines for offenders

One of the basic ideas underpinning the American judicial system is that the punishment should fit the crime.  To help guide the state’s sentencing guidelines, Governor Kathleen Sebelius has appointed Thomas Drees and Daniel Monnat to the Kansas Sentencing Commission.

“Fair and just sentencing is a critical part of our judicial system.  It separates those who are able to reform and become contributing members of society again from those whose crimes dictate they be kept off the streets.  The Sentencing Commission helps us set out the guidelines we use to make those decisions,” said Sebelius.

The Kansas Sentencing Commission is tasked with developing post-implementation monitoring procedures, evaluating sentencing guidelines, advising and consulting the Secretary of Corrections on various issues, and consulting and advising the Legislature as to the implementation, management, monitoring, maintenance and operations of those sentencing guidelines.

Drees, Hays, graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.  Drees earned his law degree from the University of Kansas in 1989, before working as assistant county attorney in Ellis County and an associate with the law firm of Glassman, Bird, and Braun.  

In 1997, Drees began serving both Trego and Ellis counties as county attorney, stepping down from the Trego County office in 2000 to serve Ellis County full-time.  He served as president of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association in 2005.  Drees succeeds Paul Morrison, who was elected Kansas Attorney General in 2006.

Monnat, Wichita, graduated cum laude from California State University, San Francisco in 1973 before earning his law degree from Creighton University in 1976.  

An attorney with Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, he has been admitted to the bars of Kansas; Nebraska; the Kansas Supreme Court; the U.S. District Courts of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and the Western District of Missouri; the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.  Monnat succeeds Kathleen Lynch, who was appointed to serve as a judge in the 29th Judicial District in 2006.

Both appointees will complete the unexpired terms of their predecessors, which end June 30, 2007.

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