Trial ordered in jeweler’s death

!A judge this morning ordered a repeat burglar from Topeka to stand trial for the April 2005 shooting of a retired jeweler found dead in his rural Lecompton home.After about an hour of testimony, Judge Michael Malone found there was enough evidence to try Leonard W. Price, nicknamed “Battle Axe,” for the killing of 77-year-old Clarence David Boose. He scheduled a week-long trial for March 5.But Price is not the only suspect in the case. A Douglas County Sheriff’s Detective, John Lewis, testified today that during a jailhouse interview last year, Price told detectives that his burglary partner, Allen D. Smith, 35, was the one who pulled the trigger. So far, Smith has not been charged in the killing. Both he and Price are now serving prison sentences for attempted murder for a shooting during a Pottawatomie County burglary, less than a week after Boose’s killing.Boose was found shot once through the head inside the doorway of his kitchen on April 29, 2005. His longtime companion, Eunice Kirshner, testified today that she drove to his home from Topeka that night after she grew worried that she couldn’t reach him by phone. She found him lying on the ground with no pulse and called 911.Price told investigators the gun used to shoot Boose was an old-fashioned black-powder pistol that had been stolen in a previous burglary, according to testimony.Lewis, the sheriff’s detective, testified that he learned of Price and Smith as possible suspects in early May 2005, at a briefing organized by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. At that time, the KBI had information that the two men were linked to a burglary spree in Pottawatomie, Jackson, Jefferson and Douglas Counties.Lewis said investigators eventually served a search warrant at a camper-trailer in Topeka that was associated with Price. There, they found Boose’s wallet and driver’s license. The wallet and a cell phone appeared to have been the only things taken from Boose’s home, Lewis said.-contributed by Eric Weslander.