Dinkel photo Kansas Department of Corrections

TOPEKA -- The Kansas Supreme Court is scheduled on Dec. 20 to review a petition from a former middle school counselor who was convicted in Saline County District Court of two counts of rape of a child under age 14.

Brooke Dinkel, 38, who formerly taught in Hays and was a counselor at Smoky Valley Middle school in Lindsborg is appealing her convictions from 2014.

According to information from the Kansas Supreme Court, Dinkel was convicted of two counts of rape of a child under age 14. The victim was a student at the middle school. The incidents began in December of 2012 at her home in Salina.

The summary from the Kansas Supreme Court includes the following.

"It is undisputed that Dinkel and the victim, K.H., engaged in sexual intercourse. Dinkel's primary defense at trial was that K.H. raped her. She argued she could not be guilty of rape of a child under age 14 based on the pair's first sexual encounter because K.H. raped her.

She also argued she could not be guilty of rape of a child under age 14 for subsequent encounters because she was suffering from trauma from the first sexual encounter (mental disease or defect) and could not form the requisite intent to commit the crime.

Dinkel was granted a significant durational departure from a Jessica's Law sentence. Instead of a hard-25 life sentence, she was sentenced to 165 months—just under 14 years—on each count to run concurrently. Dinkel appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed her convictions. Issues on review are whether: 1) the Court of Appeals erred in holding that K.S.A. 21-5503(a)(3) imposes absolute criminal liability on an adult victim who is raped by a child; 2) Dinkel was denied her constitutional right to present a defense by the exclusion of mental disease or defect testimony; 3) the Court of Appeals erred in holding the rebuttal testimony of the police officer was neither false nor improper; and 4) Dinkel was denied the right to effective assistance of counsel."