You can get probation for conspiracy

Shawn Minihan won in State v. Moffitt, No. 96,452 (Kan. App. Sept. 7, 2007) successfully defending a probation sentence imposed by Judge Hebert in a Saline County conspiracy to manufacture case. The state had argued that the provisions of K.S.A. 65-4159, which prohibit probation for manufacture or attempt to manufacture, should prevent the district court from granting probation for conspiracy to manufacture. The COA diagreed:

Nowhere in the provisions of K.S.A. 65-4159, however, is found any prohibition of probation in cases wherein a defendant is convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully manufacture a controlled substance. Indeed, the crime of conspiracy is not mentioned in any of the provisions of K.S.A. 65-4159. Given the plain language of this statute, we are unable to find any indication that its provisions apply to a defendant convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully manufacture methamphetamine.

[Update: the state did not file a PR and the mandate issued on October 11, 2007.]