photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Defense attorney Shaye Downing, standing, asks a judge not to bind over her client Michael A. Hormell, seated, for trial in a new case during a preliminary hearing on Jan. 7, 2020.

A man who is accused of shooting and injuring another teen at a Lawrence park was bound over for trial in a new case on Tuesday.

Michael A. Hormell, now 20, has been in the custody of the Douglas County Jail since he was arrested Jan. 26, 2018, in connection with a shooting that occurred the same day at Parnell Park, 901 E. 15th St. In that case, prosecutors allege that Hormell and his then-girlfriend, Ardyn D. Pannell, set up a drug buy from another teen but instead tried to rob him. When the teen fought back, prosecutors say Hormell shot him. The teen was flown to a hospital in critical condition but later stabilized, the Journal-World has reported.

Pannell, now 20, pleaded no contest Jan. 23, 2019, to robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. She has also remained in custody with her sentencing hearing continued several times pending the outcome of Hormell’s case.

In his new case, Hormell is charged with criminal discharge of a firearm, a low-level felony. A home in the 700 block of Arkansas Street was hit by gunfire that investigators believed to be from a shotgun on Jan. 6, 2018, and prosecutors allege that it was Hormell who fired the shots.

Pannell was the key witness that Senior Assistant District Attorney Debby Moody called Tuesday. She testified with her attorney standing by.

Ardyn D. Pannell

Pannell said she and Hormell dated for about a year. She testified that in January of 2018 Hormell had told her that he and another Lawrence teen had shot up a house in retaliation because they believed someone inside had been responsible for a car crash that killed a 15-year-old Lawrence boy in July of 2017.

She said Hormell had told her he was proud of himself because “a bullet hit somebody in the butt.” At some point after that, Pannell said, Hormell asked her to take him to his father’s house to drop off a shotgun.

On cross-examination, Hormell’s appointed defense attorney, Shaye Downing, asked if Pannell was high at the time of the conversation she’d described. Pannell said it was possible; she was using marijuana around that time. She also said no one else was around for that conversation. Downing also asked Pannell whether she had seen some social media messages indicating that someone else was responsible, and she said she had not.

Another witness, who said he was one of a few roommates living in the house at the time, testified that he was inside the home with a few other people. He didn’t go check to see what had happened for about half an hour after he heard glass breaking, he testified, and he didn’t see anyone outside or leaving the area. One window to the home was broken. He could not recall whether someone called police that night or if it wasn’t until the next morning, and he couldn’t remember whether he’d spoken to police.

Lawrence Police Officer Ronald Ivener testified that he was called to investigate the scene, though he was filling in for another officer who was out sick Tuesday. He said he believed some small holes dotting the outside of the house were caused by a birdshot shotgun shell. He also said he found what he believed was some wadding from a shotgun shell in the backyard.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Lawrence Police Officer Ronald Ivener testifies during a preliminary hearing for Michael A. Hormell on Jan. 8, 2020.

If anyone was injured in the incident, that was not clear from testimony in court Tuesday. There was also no mention of finding shotgun shells or a gun that matched.

Despite Downing’s argument that Pannell’s statement alone was not sufficient evidence, Judge Amy Hanley ruled that there was probable cause to bind Hormell over for trial in the new case.

“It’s a frustrating process,” Downing said after the hearing. “I’m hoping that we figure out a way to work through it.”

In a separate case in which Hormell has been sentenced to time already served, a jury on Aug. 26, 2019, found him guilty of firing into a home in the 400 block of North Street on Jan. 24, 2018. Five adults and two children were inside but none was injured, according to a news release from the Douglas County district attorney’s office announcing the verdict.

The Parnell Park shooting case has also been set for trial multiple times: one set for the first week of October 2019 ended in a mistrial, and just prior to one set to begin Dec. 2, 2019, Downing filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Kansas Court of Appeals, so both the prosecution and the defense requested that the trial be continued.

Downing has raised concerns about speedy trial violations. However, until he was sentenced to time served in the first case, Hormell was in custody for two pending cases, so state law dictated that his statutory right to speedy trial no longer applied, though his constitutional right still does.

The DA’s office filed the new case against Hormell on Dec. 6, 2019. With two cases pending once again, Hormell’s statutory right to speedy trial does not apply.

The most recent case is set for a hearing on March 11. The Parnell Park shooting case is set to go to trial March 23, and trial in the new case, which Moody and Downing expect to take four days, is set to begin April 6.