Misstatement of law and fact require new trial

Jennifer C. Roth won in State v. Watson, No. 118,710 (Kan. April 23, 2021), obtaining a new trial in a Wyandotte County Medicaid fraud prosecution. The charges stemmed from allegations that Mr. Watson submitted inaccurate time sheets as part of his employment with a home health-care agency. Mr. Watson admitted that the time sheets did not accurately reflect exact times of day worked, but asserted that the total time was accurate. After a jury convicted Mr. Watson, the district court ordered over $13,000 in restitution.

The COA had found one harmless prosecutorial error, but vacated the restitution order. The KSC found an additional prosecutorial error and held that the errors required reversal:

The prosecutor misstated the evidence by arguing Watson failed to provide any proof that he had worked the total hours recorded on his time sheets, an argument that disregarded Watson's own testimony. The prosecutor also misstated the law by arguing Watson was guilty of Medicaid fraud based solely on his submission of inaccurate timesheets, without regard to whether Watson had acted with intent to defraud. These errors substantially diminished, or effectively eliminated, an essential element of the crime of conviction—the defendant's intent to defraud Medicaid. Simultaneously, the errors undermined Watson's central defense to this charge—that he acted without intent to defraud.

The KSC clarified that proof of inaccurate time sheets only satisfied one element of the offense of Medicaid fraud, but not the culpable mental state requirement:

Under the plain language of this statute, proof that a defendant made false statements or misrepresentations to Medicaid satisfies only one element of Medicaid fraud. To secure a conviction, the State must also prove the defendant made such false statements or misrepresentations with the "intent to defraud." An "[i]ntent to defraud" means "an intention to deceive another person, and to induce such other person, in reliance upon such deception, to assume, create, transfer, alter or terminate a right, obligation or power with reference to property." K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5111(o). As used in this definition, "deception" means "knowingly creating or reinforcing a false impression, including false impressions as to law, value, intention or other state of mind." K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5111(e).

The KSC concluded that the prosecutor's misstatement of fact and law went to the heart of Mr. Watson's defense (that he did not have intent to defraud), and therefore required a new trial.