A double-murder trial that was scheduled to begin Monday has been canceled, as expected, and new counsel has been appointed for a man who has gone through at least half a dozen court-appointed attorneys. As the Journal-World reported, one of defendant Rodney Marshall's attorneys, Cline Boone, withdrew from the case Wednesday — a move that the court deemed necessary under the rules of professional ...
A double-homicide case that has been plagued by numerous delays will almost certainly be delayed again after a defense attorney withdrew just days before trial. "My frustration level is extremely high," Judge Amy Hanley told the defendant, Rodney Marshall, whose trial was set to begin Monday. Details about the reason for attorney Cline Boone's withdrawal were not discussed in court Wednesday, but Hanley said ...
A man accused of stabbing a 35-year-old Lawrence woman to death in August appeared in court Wednesday to schedule a hearing for his multiple criminal cases, including second-degree murder. Aaron Blake Wright, 63, is facing charges of criminal threat, battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct from a March case, as well as burglary and theft charges from an August case. In addition to those ...
At 96, Celia Smith has had more time than most to look at the world. For nearly a century, she has lived a life of observation and creation — much of it in a home that from the street looks like a typical Lawrence split-level from the 1960s but from the inside feels like an homage to her native Spain, where she was born during the reign of King Alfonso XIII. Against a floor-to-ceiling backdrop of ...
A man who critically injured another man after drunkenly shooting him in a car full of people received a one-year prison sentence Tuesday, which was suspended to two years of probation, and will have to pay the victim more than $6,000 in restitution. The defendant, Coby Allen Gore Holland, 22, pleaded no contest to aggravated battery for the Feb. 19 incident in which he pulled a Glock-style handgun and ...
A convicted rapist who was supposed to be sentenced later this week is asking for a new trial, claiming that the judge and the man's trial attorney erred in instructing the jury. The defendant, Reston Phillips, was convicted of rape in May after unsuccessfully putting on a "sexsomnia" defense, claiming that he was asleep during the sex act and hence not responsible. Phillips was scheduled to be sentenced for ...