Suspect in sheriff’s killing ordered to stand trial

Officer shot during 2005 raid of suspected meth lab

? A man accused of fatally shooting a southeast Kansas sheriff was ordered Monday to stand trial on charges of capital murder and six other felonies.

Scott Cheever was bound over in Butler County District Court after several hours of testimony in a preliminary hearing that had been expected to last two days.

Cheever has been in custody since Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels was shot to death Jan. 19, 2005, at a rural home outside Virgil.

Samuels had gone with two deputies to the home to serve arrest warrants on Cheever.

Former deputy Mike Mullins testified Monday that Samuels entered the house first. Mullins said he heard two gunshots almost immediately and went into the house, where he found the sheriff alive but badly wounded at the bottom of a staircase.

Mullins said he knelt to try to help Samuels.

“At one point I felt a gunshot go by my ear,” Mullins testified. “I yelled up to Scott to stop shooting and let me help Matt.”

Along with the capital murder charge, Cheever was bound over on four counts of attempted capital murder and one count each of manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture meth. His next court appearance is set for Feb. 22.

Cheever was arrested after a seven-hour standoff at the house, where officers found a working meth lab.

Several other people arrested in connection with the case have been prosecuted on drug-related charges.