Defendant waives right to hearing

With his accusers sitting in the audience waiting to testify, a man accused of trying to lure a junior high student into a car last month waived his right Thursday to a preliminary hearing and pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone set Stephen R. Stout’s jury trial for March 24.

Stout is charged with aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, and prosecutors allege he tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into a vehicle on Dec. 20 after classes at West Junior High School.

Kevin Graham, a Kansas assistant attorney general, has filed three more charges against Stout accusing him of also exposing himself to three other girls. Stout also faces a felony charge of fleeing or eluding police.

Stout claimed residence in Parks, Ark., but Missouri court records also list an Olathe address. He has a 2006 misdemeanor sexual misconduct conviction, and Stout also was granted diversion in a Lawrence exposure case in 2000.

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson was a defense attorney then and represented Stout in that case. So Branson asked the attorney general’s office to prosecute the current case.