Lawrence man gets probation in sexual battery plea deal

Michael Ken Aller will serve three years of probation instead of prison after Douglas County prosecutors joined his plea deal in a case that had carried the possibility of more than 20 years behind bars. Judge Amy Hanley imposed the sentence in Douglas County District Court, closing a case that began with a rape charge and ended with no prison time for a Lawrence man already identified as a registered sex offender.

Aller, 36, pleaded no contest in January 2026 to two counts of aggravated sexual battery, a severity level 5 person felony under Kansas law. The charges stemmed from an allegation that he sexually touched a woman without her consent on March 30, 2022, in a Lawrence trailer home. At his August 14, 2025 preliminary hearing, the woman testified that an acquaintance arranged a ride home from a convenience store with Aller, whom she did not know. She said he drove her to an empty trailer, gave her marijuana, and groped her after she made clear she was not interested and repeatedly told him no.

The woman told the court she later reported the assault to a friend, who called police, and she underwent a sexual assault exam at a hospital. Police testified at the preliminary hearing that they collected Aller’s DNA with a buccal swab, though no DNA match evidence was publicly presented in court. Defense attorney Carl Cornwell argued the woman’s memory may have been affected by marijuana, methamphetamine and anxiety medication use. Prosecutor Megan Ahsens, who took over the case in February after Ricardo Leal left the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office in January, said she did not view the incident as a mutual misunderstanding, but said both sides faced trial risks.

The plea deal called for probation, and Hanley accepted that recommendation at the June 11 sentencing. Cornwell told the court the guideline maximum would have been 128 months, and said Special Rule 5 would have doubled that to 256 months, or 21 years and four months, because Aller was a persistent sex offender. Hanley said the offenses carried a presumptive prison sentence and that probation required substantial and compelling reasons. Sentencing had first been set for February 26 but was delayed after the joint motion for probation was not filed on time.

Aller’s case also adds to a long local record. Public reporting shows he faced separate Douglas County sex-crime charges in 2020, including attempted rape, electronic solicitation and attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He also received a suspended sentence in 2022 in a case involving an attempt to solicit sex from a 15-year-old girl. For Lawrence, the result leaves a serious sexual assault allegation resolved without incarceration, even as the court placed Aller under probation supervision instead of sending him to prison.