photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Jessica Michelle Stephenson

A woman pleaded no contest on Thursday in Douglas County District Court to a charge of attempted arson at a Lawrence apartment complex.

Jessica Michelle Stephenson, 27, of Lawrence, was originally charged with aggravated arson of a dwelling, but the charge was reduced to attempted aggravated arson as part of a plea agreement with the state. The reduced charge changes the maximum penalty from 46 months to just 23 months, according to Kansas sentencing guidelines. The charge is in connection with an incident on Dec. 5, 2022, at Meadowbrook Apartments, 2711 Brittany Place, as the Journal-World reported.

Assistant District Attorney Christen Secrest said that Stephenson had a significant criminal history and would be serving any sentence she received in prison as part of the agreement.

Secrest said that if Stephenson had gone to trial, the state would have provided evidence that emergency crews responded to the 24-unit apartment complex around 4 a.m. and found a small fire in a stairwell on the first floor. Crews quickly extinguished the fire, and they also located a trash can nearby that had been burned. Investigators questioned residents of the apartment building, and witnesses identified Stephenson as the one who started the fires, Secrest said.

In addition to the attempted arson conviction, Stephenson violated her probation for a 2022 conviction in a previous case for one misdemeanor count each of assault and battery. Secrest said that Stephenson had already served the maximum amount of jail time for that conviction while waiting on the disposition of the arson case.

Stephenson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22. She has been in custody since her arrest in December and was being held on a $20,000 cash or surety bond.

Stephenson has additional convictions in Douglas County for felony burglary and misdemeanor battery on a law enforcement officer from 2019, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.