Story updated at 3:03 p.m. Monday, July 1:
The Douglas County district attorney says his office already has programs successfully diverting numerous simpler cases from court.
Taking those efforts to the next level won’t be as simple or cheap.
“We’re getting down to the hard cases,” District Attorney Charles Branson said.
Creating a drug court may be expensive and resource-heavy, but it’s a needed ...
A lawsuit brought by the family of a Eudora murder victim against his killer has been settled and dismissed.
According to Douglas County District Court records, the case was formally dismissed June 17. Defendant Danny W. Queen and plaintiff Scott Hopson jointly requested the dismissal after reaching a settlement in late April.
The terms of that settlement were not filed in court.
Hopson told the ...
A Lawrence man reportedly raped a woman who’d allowed him to stay at her house as she slept deeply from ingesting alcohol and sleeping pills, a police affidavit says.
Perry L. Oatis, 54, was arrested at the scene in the early morning hours of May 27, after the woman’s roommate saw him assaulting her and called police.
Oatis was charged the next day in Douglas County District Court with rape for allegedly ...
A man who got kicked out of a downtown Lawrence bar reportedly displayed a gun when he wasn’t allowed back in early Wednesday morning.
Lawrence police were dispatched to the Jazzhaus, 926 Massachusetts St., just after midnight for a reported disturbance with weapons, Sgt. Amy Rhoads said in an email.
The suspect had been removed from the business for a disturbance on the patio but then returned and tried to ...
A woman who operated a prostitution business out of massage parlors in Lawrence and Topeka was sentenced to probation on Wednesday in federal court in Topeka.
In addition to serving three years on probation, Weiling Nielsen, 54, agreed to pay a $650,000 judgment representing proceeds from her crimes, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release after her sentencing.
Nielsen owned and operated Naima ...
A Topeka man has been charged in federal court with robbing payday loan businesses in Lawrence and Topeka.
Derick Renee Crawford, 29, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release. Crawford faces two counts of commercial robbery for allegedly robbing the Advance America store at 2223 Louisiana St. in Lawrence on Feb. 21 and, about a month ...
