A Lawrence man on Wednesday was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fentanyl overdose death of a 32-year-old father of two. The defendant, Robert Leeroy Hall, 35, pleaded guilty to the felonies of involuntary manslaughter and unlawful distribution of fentanyl as part of a plea agreement with the state, which had originally charged him with one felony count of distribution of a controlled substance ...
Douglas County prosecutors on Tuesday failed to convince a jury that a Lawrence man attempted to murder his pregnant wife during an argument in July. Prosecutors also failed to prove that Dustin Ian Lane, 39, committed the crimes of attempted voluntary manslaughter, aggravated intimidation of a victim, intimidation of a victim and criminal restraint. After deliberating for about two and a half hours Tuesday ...
Dakota Loomis, who unseated the incumbent district attorney in August's Democratic primary, handily defeated his Republican opponent Tuesday and will become Douglas County’s next DA in January. After his victory became apparent early in the evening — with 86% of precincts reporting he was leading by 31 percentage points — he told the Journal-World that "the real work begins now." "I think our county, our ...
A Douglas County jury on Monday heard a frantic 911 call from a woman who said her husband was trying to kill her, but when the woman herself took the stand, jurors heard an entirely different story: The couple simply had a heated argument, the woman testified, and she was "not really sure" how she had acquired injuries that police later documented as being consistent with strangulation. She was too ...
A Douglas County jury took less than 40 minutes Tuesday to acquit a man of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — in a case where the state said the defendant pulled a menacing knife but the defendant said it was simply a flashlight. The defendant, Anthony D. Davis, was accused of pointing a 7- to 8-inch knife at a Dillons employee on Nov. 2, 2023, after the employee confronted him about some beer that he ...
A Lenexa man was convicted Monday in Douglas County District Court of one count of aggravated sexual battery for an incident that occurred three years ago in southeastern Lawrence. Jose Garcia Melgarejo, 41, pleaded guilty to the felony in a deal with the state, which had originally charged him with the more serious crime of aggravated criminal sodomy. The plea deal was reached with input and support from the ...