A Lawrence resident made history on Friday when she was sworn in as the newest judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals. Jacy J. Hurst, who was appointed to the position earlier this year, was sworn in as the first woman of color to take a seat on the judicial panel. She was surrounded by family and friends during a ceremony in the court on Friday. The Court of Appeals' chief judge, Karen Arnold-Burger, briefly ...
Updated at 4:33 p.m. Thursday A jury in Douglas County District Court on Thursday found a Lawrence massage therapist guilty of committing several sex crimes against five people, one of whom was a child and three of whom were soccer players at the University of Kansas at the time of the incidents. The jury convicted Shawn P. O’Brien, 50, of the eight charges he was facing. Three of the charges accused ...
A Lawrence woman is facing felony charges in Douglas County District Court for allegedly abusing an infant. Brittany M. Jewell, 25, on Tuesday was formally charged with abuse of a child and aggravated assault, both felonies, stemming from a July 10 incident involving the infant. Jewell was also charged with criminal threat, a felony, and domestic battery, a misdemeanor, stemming from an Aug. 6 incident with two ...
People of color in Douglas County who come in contact with law enforcement are almost twice as likely to be searched by police, according to the preliminary findings of a local law enforcement contact study. Additionally, across all searches, the most common outcome is that police will find no evidence that a crime has been committed. Researchers Jack McDevitt, of Northeastern University, and Janice Iwama, of ...
The Lawrence school district will see a decrease in spending authority during the upcoming school year because of a decrease in enrollment last year. However, local homeowners will also see a slight decrease in taxes toward the district’s funding. The school board on Monday heard a report on the district’s budget from Finance Director Kathy Johnson, who explained that the district plans to spend about ...
While the Douglas County Commission prepares to set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars to help establish a public defender office for misdemeanor criminal cases, some local defense attorneys have expressed reservations about the idea. Hatem Chahine and Michael Clarke, two prominent defense attorneys who have worked for decades in Douglas County, recently told the Journal-World they are skeptical of the ...