WRITER: Kim Callahan

DA offers new explanation regarding why rape victims weren't notified of serial rapist's resentencing

The Douglas County district attorney appears to have changed her explanation about why rape survivors weren't notified about their rapist potentially getting out of prison decades earlier than they expected. The DA, Suzanne Valdez, is now saying that one of her former employees, attorney Eve Kemple, agreed to the motion that resulted in the substantial sentence reduction without notifying the victims or ...

Lawrence's Rainbow Kids group determined to carry baton for LGBTQ community after founder dies at age 49

One of the most painful experiences a parent can endure is seeing their child struggle in a world where they don’t fit in, where they’re made to feel that they are not “normal,” that they are less valuable than other children. It was not an experience that Matt Enyart was willing to endure, certainly not in silence. His baby deserved better, and he spent the last decade of his life demanding better. Not ...

'Who cared about our rights?': Rape survivor baffled by determination that failure to notify her about rapist's hearing is not unethical

A complaint filed by a rape survivor against the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has been dismissed after a finding that the conduct of the DA and her assistant — failing to notify rape survivors about a sentencing hearing — was a "mistake" but not unethical. The decision has left the woman angry, sad and incredulous — not the least because the conduct she complained of as unethical is also, ...

Complaint by special prosecutor alleges that DA Suzanne Valdez violated multiple rules of professional conduct, caused attorneys to leave her office

Updated at 3:17 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023 A formal complaint filed by a special prosecutor against Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez alleges that Valdez has violated multiple rules of professional conduct, including that she called a judge a liar and a sexist, implied that he was racist, sent him inappropriate texts and yelled and cursed about him to the extent that multiple attorneys in her ...

Midnight's Miracle: A small army of dog lovers united to capture a frightened greyhound who had been crisscrossing Lawrence for nearly a month

June 21 was supposed to mark a new beginning for Midnight, a skittish greyhound who had spent her first six years in a pen on a southeast Kansas farm. She was a brood hound — impregnated twice a year — and producing puppies was her life. Recently rescued from that fate, Midnight had just been spayed earlier that morning and was being delivered to a foster home in Lawrence — the first step toward a ...

Sex offender who was given probation instead of 10 years in prison is now accused of violating probation

In June of last year, Douglas County District Judge Stacey Donovan gave probation to a 20-year-old man convicted of a sex crime against a child. As she departed from the state’s sentencing guidelines to do so, she noted that she was taking “a very large leap of faith.” That faith is now being tested as the man, Trey Gibson, of Lawrence, found himself back in court Tuesday to answer for allegedly violating ...