Douglas County judge declares mistrial minutes before trial starts

A Douglas County judge Wednesday afternoon declared a mistrial just minutes before jurors were scheduled to hear opening arguments in the trial of a 21-year-old woman accused in a December burglary near the Kansas University campus.

Tom Bath, defense attorney for Shelby Sprauer, asked District Judge Kay Huff to grant a mistrial based on phone records Lawrence police detectives had collected in the case.

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said there were specific records that neither side had reviewed among the nearly 700 pages.

“The state did not object to the mistrial to give the defense time to review those records,” Branson said.

Huff dismissed the 12 jurors who were selected Wednesday morning and scheduled Sprauer’s new trial for Aug. 3. Spauer faces counts of conspiracy to commit burglary and aggravated burglary, as prosecutors accuse her of participating in a scheme to rob an apartment resident late on Dec. 3 in the 1100 block of Louisiana Street.

Of her three co-defendants, Kayla Kling, 20, pleaded no contest in April to one count of attempted burglary and Michael Hammond, 20, pleaded no contest to two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary. A third co-defendant, Kyle Peterson, 21, has a trial scheduled for June 24.