WRITER: Kim Callahan

He was supposed to stand trial next week for an alleged rape 7 years ago; he says he needs more time to prepare

Just days before a trial was to begin in a 7-year-old rape case, the defendant has asked a Douglas County judge for more time to prepare his defense. On Wednesday, Judge Amy Hanley — with considerable reluctance, it appeared — granted the request of defense attorney Joe Huerter, who is representing Reston K. Phillips, a man accused of raping a young woman while she slept on a couch at the home of a Lawrence ...

Man who shot another man in 2019 drug deal in restaurant parking lot pleads no contest to attempted aggravated battery

A Leavenworth man who admitted shooting another man during a 2019 drug deal in a McDonald’s parking lot has pleaded no contest to the lesser offense of attempted aggravated battery. Wednesday’s plea from Howard Collins Levite Jr., 32, in Douglas County District Court came 11 weeks after a jury acquitted Levite of attempted first-degree murder in the case. As the Journal-World reported, the jury hung on a ...

Emporia man accused of raping Lawrence woman in 2022 pleads no contest to aggravated battery

Updated at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 2 An Emporia man who was accused of raping a woman in 2022 at her Lawrence apartment was convicted on Wednesday in Douglas County District Court of the lesser offense of aggravated battery. As part of a plea deal with the state, the defendant, Romeo Devontay Martinez, entered a no contest plea to an amended complaint of one felony count of aggravated battery with a finding ...

Lawrence school board approves district's calculations regarding open spots for transfer students under new state law

In the wake of a new law broadening school choice, the Lawrence school district is hopeful that it can increase enrollment and gain state education dollars by receiving students from other districts, but it’s taking a self-described “conservative” approach to avoid overwhelming its schools. At a special meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence school board voted 5-0, with Anne Costello and Carole Cadue-Blackwood ...

Man originally charged in young woman's fentanyl death pleads no contest to lesser crime, gets 4 other felony cases dismissed as part of deal

A man who was originally charged in the overdose death of a young Lawrence woman entered a no contest plea Friday to the lesser crime of distributing a controlled substance. The plea deal that Mason Duane Robinson, 28, cut with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office also guaranteed that multiple other felony cases against him would be dismissed altogether. Robinson was originally charged with ...

Jury finds man not guilty in downtown murder case

Updated at 4:11 p.m. Thursday, April 25, 2024 A Douglas County jury on Thursday acquitted a transient man of murdering a blind Lawrence resident last summer in downtown Lawrence. The defendant, Chadwick Potter, 35, had faced a second-degree murder charge in the bludgeoning death of David Blaine Sullivan, 62. Sullivan’s body was found on July 12, 2023, beneath a clump of trees by the Kansas River bridge near ...