This story was updated at 8:43 p.m., Saturday, March 21. Maci Perrins, a seventh-grader at Southwest Middle School in Lawrence, represented Douglas County at the state spelling bee Saturday in Salina and finished within the top 5. A four-time champion of the Douglas County bee, Maci outlasted most of the competition from around Kansas on Saturday, making it to the second to last round and tying for fourth ...
A Lawrence man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after throwing a package of methamphetamine over a prison wall in Hutchinson, where he had formerly been incarcerated, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas. According to court documents, Jermel Fleming, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance. In February 2024, ...
A woman who has worked for decades to keep the man who brutally raped her behind bars is again beseeching the Kansas Parole Board to not put “a very violent sexual predator” back into the community, and the Douglas County district attorney is backing her effort. The woman, Jean Rhea, was viciously attacked by Sherman L. Galloway in 1981 as she jogged on a summer evening on the University of Kansas campus. ...
A jury trial for a man accused of multiple sex crimes that was scheduled to begin at the end of this month has been canceled after the parties indicated to the court Thursday that a plea deal was imminent. The defendant, Kenneth Wayne Soap, 46, is now scheduled for a plea hearing on May 1 in Douglas County District Court. The plea agreement, not yet available in court records, is expected to resolve charges in ...
A man with a lengthy criminal record who is known for leading law enforcement on numerous car chases was convicted Wednesday in Douglas County District Court of attempted aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding police and criminal damage to property for three incidents that happened in 2022 and 2024. The convictions followed a deal in which Steven Carl Drake II, 50, pleaded no ...
A defendant who was convicted of felony battery against a law enforcement officer has been ordered to serve two years of probation and to pay nearly $2,400 in restitution to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Judge Sally Pokorny sentenced Dustin Parrish on Wednesday to 11 months in prison but suspended that term to 24 months of probation in accordance with the parties' recommendations. Parrish, who has no ...