A 40-year-old felon who was accused in a Lawrence woman's fentanyl death in 2022 is back in jail this week facing a new felony drug charge along with several misdemeanors. William Martin Byrd, of Lawrence, was arrested late Wednesday morning at his home and charged the next day with possession of methamphetamine, two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage to ...
A woman who was accused of felony child abuse last winter took a plea deal Friday to misdemeanor battery and was given probation. The woman, Tiara Nicole Dillon, was charged in February 2025 with torturing or beating a child under the age of 18. The child in question is now 10 years old, and the incident occurred on Dec. 30, 2024. Dillon was set to have a preliminary hearing last month, but that hearing was ...
A 44-year-old drug dealer was sentenced on Friday to nearly eight years in prison for multiple drug crimes, one of which was connected to the 2018 death of a young Lawrence woman. The defendant, Timothy Edward Thompson, had originally been charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of distribution of heroin causing a death and seven lower-level drug charges in separate incidents. On Feb. 5, ...
Paula Kissinger is in her 70s now, but she vividly remembers responding to a call as a police officer in the summer of 1981: A young student had been brutally raped at knifepoint by a stranger on the KU campus and had barely escaped with her life. Kissinger took the initial crime report, collected evidence and accompanied the victim, Jean Rhea, to the hospital, where Kissinger saw bite marks on her body ...
A Lawrence woman accused of pulling a knife on a convenience store clerk last fall will not be immune from prosecution based on her claim of self-defense, a Douglas County judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Stacey Donovan said that after "painstakingly reviewing" six videos from the store it was evident to her that the defendant, Jazmine Porchia, had pulled a knife on the clerk and had opened its blade. She said ...
A violent offender who was facing a charge of possession of methamphetamine was allowed to plead guilty Wednesday to a lower-level felony of interference with law enforcement, and the state is recommending probation, even though the offense is a presumptive prison term under state sentencing guidelines. The 30-year-old defendant, Antonio Esparza, is believed to have a criminal history score of "B," the second ...