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Posted by Eric Weslander November 3, 2006 at 12:24 p.m.

One charged reduced against Granada shooting suspect

Prosecutors today reduced one of the charges against a Topeka man accused of a deadly shooting earlier this year outside a downtown night club.Rashawn T. Anderson, 19, had been charged with attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of a Kansas City man who was injured at the scene, but prosecutors reduced the charge to aggravated battery after defense attorneys challenged the higher-level charge.Anderson also is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Robert Earl Williams, 46, of Lawrence. The shooting happened Feb. 5 after a crowd spilled outside onto Mass. Street following a hip-hop show.Williams' widow says the shooting happened when tempers flared after a stranger interjected himself in an argument Williams was having with a family friend.Anderson is due to stand trial Jan. 22.Other news on the Lawrence crime beat:Child-abuse trial: Witnesses say both the mother and father of a baby who died of child abuse last fall have unsavory incidents in their past involving abuse or rough handling of children.This morning a judge ruled that testimony about those prior incidents can be used at the upcoming trial for the baby's father, Jay D. Decker.Decker, 27, is due to stand trial starting Nov. 13 for the death of 5-month old Risha Lafferty in October 2005 at Edgewood Homes, 1600 Haskell Ave. A previous trial ended in a mistrial on the last day when a police interview surfaced that hadn't been sent to prosecutors.Decker's attorneys are trying to shift the blame to the baby's mother, Brandi Hendrickson. Judge Paula Martin decided Friday to allow a family friend's testimony that she had seen Hendrickson handle the couple's older child roughly out of frustration- what defense attorneys termed "jolting" the child.But Martin also ruled that Hendrickson could testify about a 2003 incident in Texas, in which she alleges Decker choked the couple's older child after he had been drinking.Smoking-ban citations: Lawrence police said today that they issued two tickets Wednesday for alleged violations of the city's smoking ban at the Jet Lag Lounge, 610 Fla. They cited a 55-year-old man and 56-year-old man at the request of the city's fire inspector, who was called to the bar around 11:25 a.m. that day to respond to a complaint about smoking at the business.Burglaries and thefts:¢ A 24-year-old man is suspected of stealing $2,300 from Kwik Shop, 845 Miss., between Oct. 8 and Oct. 16. A security investigator for the business notified police of the missing money earlier this week. A report has been sent to Dist. Atty. Charles Branson's office for possible charges.¢ A Kansas University student reported her purse and its contents, valued at more than $2,500, stolen between 1 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday from the 4500 block of Wimbledon Drive. ¢ A 45-year-old Tonganoxie woman reported a digital camera, a check, and a leather foot stool, worth $1,047 total, stolen between 10 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. Oct. 26 from a vehicle in the 2100 block of Quail Creek Drive.¢ An 83-year-old woman reported five campaign signs stolen between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from her home in the 2400 block of Orchard Lane, according to a report.-contributed by [Eric Weslander.][1] [1]: http://www2.ljworld.com/staff/eric_weslander