KINGMAN — A Kansas man convicted of killing his wife, then setting their home on fire has filed a petition for review after his civil motion was denied by the Kansas Court of Appeals in February.
Brett Seacat, 46, was found guilty of shooting Vashti Seacat in her bedroom then setting the home ablaze in April of 2011. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for 25 years.
Seacat filed the civil motion claiming ineffective counsel, saying that there was evidence the defense failed to present that would clear him of the crime. The motion was filed in May of 2020. In March the Court of Appeals denied the civil motion stating the court’s and Secat’s attorney did not err in any way during his trial or the appeal that followed.
Seacat maintained that his wife killed herself and that evidence proving so was not presented in his trial. In his original appeal, Seacat challenged the trial court’s exclusion of evidence relating to his wife's depression, which he contends would have bolstered his theory that she took her own life.
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the former Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center instructor in 2016.