Man pleads no contest in pedestrian’s death

A Basehor man has entered a plea to killing an intoxicated pedestrian in March 2004 outside a fraternity and sorority party near Teepee Junction north of Lawrence.

Joseph J. Bell III, 20, pleaded no contest in District Court to both charges against him: one count of vehicular homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an injury accident. Both are misdemeanors.

He will be sentenced May 6 and faces a maximum of one year in jail for the homicide charge.

Bell was driving the Chevrolet Suburban that struck and killed Devin Scott Emery on March 14, 2004, near U.S. Highway 24-40.

Emery, 20, of Wichita, was in Lawrence to visit friends and see a performance of Rock Chalk Revue. He was attending a party at the junction and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24 when he died, according to court records.

Courts

Trial scheduled on rape charge

Trial has been scheduled for Aug. 22 for a 20-year-old Lawrence man charged with raping a Lawrence woman after giving her a ride home from a campus-area bar.

He’s also charged with possession with intent to sell marijuana and, in a separate case, with possession of amphetamine and possession of methylphenidate, the drug commonly known as Ritalin, used to treat attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The man appeared Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in District Court.

The woman told police the man raped her about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 23 in his vehicle after he gave her a ride from The Hawk, 1340 Ohio. He is out of jail on bond.

The Journal-World does not identify suspects in sex crimes unless they’ve been convicted.

Fort Riley soldier dies during attack in Iraq

A Fort Riley soldier died Sunday in Iraq when he came under attack and fell in a canal in Baghdad, the Army said Wednesday.

Cpl. William D. Richardson, 23, of Moreno Valley, Calif., became the 48th soldier from Fort Riley to die in Iraq, said post spokeswoman Sam Robinson. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq, arriving in January. The death is being investigated.

Richardson was an infantryman with Company A, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, which has been in Iraq since June 2004. The regiment was deployed previously in 2003 as the Iraq war began.

Robinson said Richardson enlisted in the Army in February 2002 and had been at Fort Riley since August 2002.

Approximately 4,300 Fort Riley soldiers are in Iraq, including more than 750 soldiers with 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry.

Driver gets 41 months in double-fatality crash

A man convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a traffic accident that killed two people from Galesburg last year has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Aaron T. Anderson was sentenced to 41 months on each of two counts, with District Judge Fred Lorentz ordering he serve the two sentences concurrently.

The crash three miles south of Iola on U.S. 169 last Aug. 29 killed Sandy Coover and Kirk Brungardt, whose relatives urged the longest possible time in prison for Anderson.

Anderson had been drinking at a Chanute tavern before the accident, and he acknowledged he was in the habit of drinking and driving. He also admitted having smoked a small amount of marijuana, which he said he did not think was a factor in the crash.

Second person charged in 1982 beating death

Olathe — A 45-year-old New York man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1982 beating death of an Olathe man whose wife also is charged in his slaying.

Mark S. Mangelsdorf of Pelham, N.Y., was arrested Monday night at his home on a Kansas warrant for the death of David Harmon, 25, who was killed in his home. Mangelsdorf was scheduled to appear before a judge Wednesday in White Plains, N.Y., and is being held on $1 million bond.

The trial for Harmon’s wife, Melinda Raisch, 47, is slated to begin Monday. She was charged with murder in 2003.

Harmon was beaten to death on Feb. 28, 1982, as he lay in bed in his Olathe duplex. Raisch, 24 at the time, told police her husband was attacked by two masked intruders who were seeking keys to the bank where he worked.