Kansas high court upholds convictions of man sentenced in Evan Brewer murder

Stephen Bodine, who was sentenced to at least 109 1/2 years in prison in the torture and killing of 3-year-old Evan Brewer, will remain behind bars after the Kansas Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s rulings in the case.

In an opinion released Friday, the state’s highest court affirmed the Sedgwick County District Court convictions.

Bodine’s direct appeal asked members of the court to consider eight issues, including whether the kidnapping statute he was convicted under is unconstitutionally broad and whether his convictions for “felony murder and aggravated child endangerment under an aiding and abetting theory are logically impossible,” according to the 43-page document that details the appeal and opinion.

In 2018, Bodine was sentenced in the killing of Evan and encasing the boy’s body in concrete to hide the death. Bodine was the live-in boyfriend of Evan’s mother, Miranda Miller.

Miller was sentenced to 25 years in prison for her part in the death.