A Denver judge wrongly rejected a convicted defendant’s request for a sentence reduction because his stated reasons for denying the motion could not possibly have been true, Colorado’s second-highest court concluded on Thursday.

Jurors convicted Brent M. Kelley in 2018 of second-degree murder and a drug offense. He received a 47-year prison sentence. After appealing unsuccessfully, Kelley filed a petition for postconviction relief in 2023. He sought a sentence reduction based on multiple factors.

District Court Judge Eric M. Johnson denied the request.

“Based on my review of the file,” he wrote, “including the subject motion, probations reports, and my notes from the sentencing hearing, I find that the sentence I imposed was, and remains, appropriate.”

Kelley appealed Johnson’s order and pointed out the obvious problem: Kelley was sentenced in 2018 by then-District Court Judge Morris B. Hoffman — not by Johnson. Johnson, in fact, was not even appointed to the bench until 2019.

In an unusual move, the government acknowledged Johnson’s representation that he was the sentencing judge did not make sense.

“While it was appropriate for the court to consider the contents of the case file, the remainder of its order indicates an error,” wrote Senior Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Lanni. “Given the inconsistency between the court’s order and the record, the case should be remanded for the post-conviction court to clarify the ‘basic reasons’ for its ruling.”

On Aug. 28, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel agreed with both sides. Johnson’s reasoning “can’t be right because that judge didn’t preside over the sentencing hearing or impose the sentence,” wrote Judge Jerry N. Jones.

The panel directed Johnson to re-evaluate and re-decide Kelley’s request for a sentence reduction.

The case is People v. Kelley.