Olathe

Hearings remain open in Leawood girl’s killing

A judge has refused to close to the public the court proceedings of the man accused of killing a Leawood teenager more than two years ago at the community swimming pool where she worked.

Attorneys for Benjamin Appleby said Friday they didn’t want potential jurors tainted by testimony at preliminary hearings or media coverage of the proceedings.

But Johnson County District Court Judge Steve Leben said Appleby’s right to a fair trial would not be harmed by keeping the courtroom open.

Appleby, 29, is charged with capital murder in the 2002 killing of Ali Kemp, a 19-year-old student at Kansas State University.

Garnett

Dog breeder sentenced to jail in puppies’ deaths

A man who killed four dachshund puppies at his kennel has been sentenced to a year in jail.

Danny Berry, 44, of Garnett, killed the dogs in October as officers arrived at his property to seize the animals. State officials said Berry was breeding the dogs illegally and in poor conditions. He was sentenced this week on six charges of cruelty to animals.

Debra Duncan, Animal Facilities Inspection Program director, said that when officers arrived, Berry grabbed a metal pipe and ran for the kennel, where he killed the first dog, then grabbed dogs by their legs and swung their heads on fencing and dog houses before being restrained, Duncan said.