Limon's attorney
asks for his release

Matthew Limon was scheduled to be in Miami, Kan., County district court less than a week after the Kansas supreme court ruled in his landmark case that the state can't punish underage sex more harshly if it involves homosexual acts. Court officials said Limon was set to appear before Judge Richard Smith at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. His attorney, Paige Nichols of Lawrence, said last week that she would ask the judge to release Limon from Ellsworth Correctional Facility pending further action by the state. Nichols didn't return phone calls Wednesday seeking comment. Limon has been in prison since 2000, serving a sentence of 17 years and two months for performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy. Had one of the two participants been a girl, Limon, then 18, would have faced only 15 months behind bars under a special "Romeo and Juliet" law allowing lighter punishment for heterosexual teenage sex. (AP)