In 2017 they were four young men on the cusp of adulthood, celebrating KU graduation at a weekend house party. "The whole gang" was there — drinking, smoking marijuana, barhopping, hanging out — with no inkling that by Sunday morning the house would become a crime scene and that eight years later, to the day, they’d be testifying in the case of a former friend accused of rape.
On Tuesday in Douglas County ...
A 30-year-old woman has been waiting eight years to tell a jury what happened to her on KU graduation weekend in 2017.
On Monday that long-awaited opportunity arrived as she faced Reston K. Phillips in Douglas County District Court and told jurors that he sexually violated her as she slept after a night of celebrating on May 14.
The woman, a one-time KU student who flew back to Kansas that weekend to see her ...
Longtime Lawrence artist Louis Copt died Thursday night after disclosing in a newsletter last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Copt, 76, was a well-known painter whose work, primarily oil on canvas, but also murals, focused on prairie themes and landscapes.
In a social media post Friday, the Lawrence Arts Center said it was heartbroken to learn that Copt, a "longtime friend, teaching artist, and ...
Updated at 3 p.m. Friday, May 9
A speech pathologist accused of child sex crimes at a Lawrence elementary school is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled Thursday in Douglas County District Court, and a prosecutor indicated that additional charges would be forthcoming.
The defendant, Mark Elliott Gridley, 61, is facing one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of kidnapping — ...
Updated at 4:57 p.m. Tuesday, May 6
A Lawrence man who has been accused, for years now, of harassing and disruptive behavior at public meetings has been permanently banned from Lawrence school district property and has been informed that he will be arrested if he shows up there again.
That's according to a purported letter from Lawrence Superintendent Jeanice Swift on May 1 addressed to the man, Michael Eravi, ...
A 35-year-old New York man exchanged thousands of lewd messages, including sexually graphic photos, videos and phone calls, with a Lawrence 14-year-old, and made plans to travel here for the purposes of statutorily raping her, according to allegations in his arrest affidavit, which was released Monday morning.
The Douglas County District Attorney's Office and defense attorney Hatem Chahine both had asked Judge ...
