Story updated at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, 2019: A young woman who murdered an older man she lived with in Lawrence is trying another route to appeal her conviction, or at least her “Hard 50” life prison sentence. Among other arguments, 24-year-old Sarah B. Gonzales-McLinn contends that her trial attorney should have employed a battered women’s defense strategy instead of emphasizing her mental ...
Story updated at 3:17 p.m. Wednesday The second of three co-defendants in the Massachusetts Street triple murder case has been convicted, after entering a plea Wednesday in Douglas County District Court. Ahmad M. Rayton, 23, of Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter, a felony, for shooting at a man during the deadly fracas in downtown Lawrence. In exchange for his plea, other ...
An unusual opportunity to see the Kansas Supreme Court in action proved popular among Lawrence area residents. Just over 800 people attended the court’s special session Monday night at the Lied Center, according to Lisa Taylor, the court’s public information director. She said the University of Kansas police department, which counted attendees as they passed through metal detectors to get in, provided an ...
A one-vehicle crash on the Kansas Turnpike near Lawrence killed a Topeka woman, according to a preliminary report from the Kansas Highway Patrol. The accident happened about 7:30 p.m. Saturday near milepost 206, just east of the North Lawrence exit, according to the report. Telisa Sheree Walker, 41, was driving a 2003 Ford Explorer westbound when she lost control and went off the north side of the roadway ...
The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office was reviewing Friday’s double shooting case in which two teens were injured, though charges had not been filed late Monday afternoon. The two suspects — also both juveniles — would be scheduled to appear before a judge for detention hearings before the end of the day Tuesday if they are charged, Cheryl Wright Kunard, assistant to the DA, said in an email. ...
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in a Douglas County traffic stop case, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Monday. Oral arguments in the appeal, Kansas v. Charles Glover, will be set for the fall. “I am encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear our appeal to help bring clarity to this aspect of the law,” Schmidt said, in the news release. “Numerous other ...