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 ...
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 ...
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 plea agreement for a violent offender went off the rails Monday after a Douglas County judge informed the attorneys that they had been plea-bargaining using the wrong criminal complaint.
After she discovered the parties' error, Judge Stacey Donovan reset the plea hearing for Wednesday to give the state and defense attorney time to craft a plea agreement based on the appropriate complaint.
At the top of the ...
Updated at 5:25 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, 2026
A woman told Lawrence police that her ex-boyfriend and father of her child sent her threatening text messages the day before he barged into her apartment and shot her new boyfriend in the abdomen, leaving the man with life-threatening injuries.
"Someone is dying," the woman reported to emergency dispatch in a phone call after the Jan. 23 shooting.
The woman's ...
Updated at 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 23
A 42-year-old Lawrence man who was released from jail less than three weeks ago after the Douglas County District Attorney's Office dropped a murder charge against him is now back behind bars after he was arrested Friday night on suspicion of breaking into a man's house to steal from him.
On Monday, the DA's Office charged Julius Robert Beasley with aggravated residential ...
