WRITER: Kim Callahan

Judge sentences Lawrence man to more than 12 years in prison for rape, denies new trial, says 'consent' has common meaning

Updated at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28 A Douglas County judge on Wednesday sentenced a Lawrence man to more than 12 years in prison for rape and aggravated criminal sodomy. The sentence came after a jury in November convicted Miquel Brown, 33, of the two sex crimes and after his attorneys failed on Wednesday morning to win a new trial for him or a favorable departure from the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines. The ...

Affidavit in Hawk shooting offers broader picture of deadly incident than immunity motion filed by shooter's attorney

Video of the Jan. 17 shootings at the Jayhawk Cafe shows the two underage murder defendants in the case sneaking into the bar through a side entrance and fighting with staff, including one of them brandishing a handgun and pointing it at a bouncer's head before exiting the bar, Lawrence police reported in an arrest affidavit. After that, the confrontation quickly turned deadly when that gunman — Caiden Clem, ...

When defendant in Hawk shooting heard gunshots near him, he was justified in pulling out own gun and firing, attorney says in immunity motion

A defendant in the Jan. 17 fatal shooting at the Jayhawk Cafe is claiming that he should be immune from prosecution because he was acting in self-defense when he heard "multiple gunshots in close proximity to him." Hearing those gunshots entitled 18-year-old Daitron Daniels Strickland to pull his own handgun out and start shooting without aiming it at anyone, his attorney, Razmi Tahirkheli, has written in a ...

Defendant ordered to stand trial after Lawrence woman testifies he raped and battered her

A man was ordered to stand trial on charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery in Douglas County District Court after a woman testified Friday that he sexually attacked her on two occasions in 2024. The defendant, Marlon D. Watson, is now scheduled for trial in June. The 27-year-old woman testified that Watson, whom she met at their shared place of employment, raped her on her living room couch in August ...

Convicted rapist who claimed 'sexsomnia' gets more than 12 years in prison; no new trial, no appeal bond

Updated at 6:38 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22 A Douglas County judge on Thursday sentenced a man to 12 years and three months in prison for rape after a jury last year rejected his claim that the sexual violation had innocently occurred while he was asleep. The victim in the case, a 30-year-old woman who now lives out of state, asked the court for "the most severe sentence under the law," or nearly 14 years, which ...

Lawrence man sentenced to 17 years for child abuse and sex crimes

A 44-year-old Lawrence man was sentenced to just over 17 years in prison Wednesday for child abuse; aggravated indecent solicitation of a child; and violation of his probation in an earlier crime against a child. Joshua William Spence was originally charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child but pleaded no contest in October 2025 in Douglas County District Court to child abuse by impeding the ...