Lawrence Rieke denied buying alcoholic beverages more than two years ago for minors, including a stepson who later killed a woman in a car crash while driving drunk.

“I didn’t even buy myself (a drink),” Rieke, 54, Merriam, said Thursday during testimony in Douglas County District Court.

Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon to determine if Rieke is guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing alcohol to minors. Rieke initially was charged with six counts, but two of them have since been dropped, Assistant Dist. Atty. Shelley Diehl said.The jury was dismissed at 5 p.m. and jurors were to resume deliberations this morning.

Rieke is accused of buying alcohol for his two stepsons and two of their friends during the afternoon of Sept. 16, 2000, while they were gathered at The Wheel, 507 W. 14th St.

Rieke and other family members and friends had received tickets for a suite at Kansas University’s Memorial Stadium, where a football game was played that night, according to testimony.

That night, Rieke’s 16-year-old stepson, Sean Scott, was driving to his Johnson County home on Kansas Highway 10 when he lost control of his car. The car crossed the median and struck a westbound car driven by Felicia Bland, 39, Lawrence. Bland was killed.

In August 2001, in Johnson County District Court, Scott was placed on five years probation for involuntary manslaughter.

During testimony this week, Scott said Rieke bought him beer and a shot that afternoon at The Wheel.

Sean Scott’s brother, Mike “Scotty” Scott and two friends, Sean Brewer and Brian Stockton, all either 18 or 19 at the time, were also drinking beer purchased by Rieke, according to testimony.

Rieke, however, said the students in the bar were misled by Mike Scott about who was buying drinks. In fact, Rieke described what he called a long “contentious relationship” with Mike Scott.

According to Rieke, when he entered The Wheel, Mike Scott put his arm around him and told his friends that Rieke was going to buy them drinks.

“I was really ticked,” Rieke said, describing his anger at Mike Scott’s actions.

Rieke said he walked away and sat at a table with other relatives. He denied buying drinks for anyone and said he was in the bar only 20 minutes.

Mike Scott already was drunk when he arrived at the bar, Rieke said.

“He’s drunk, and I’m upset,” Rieke said.

Moreover, Rieke said he worried that Sean Scott, who had spent time with his brother earlier that day at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at KU, also had been drinking.

Rieke said he later expressed his anger at Mike Scott and decided he wasn’t going to let him go with the rest of the family to the stadium suite.

A jury of five men and one woman heard the trial in Judge Robert Fairchild’s courtroom. Misdemeanor trials are heard by a six-person jury. If convicted, Rieke could face a maximum sentence of a year in jail on each count.