photo by: Lawrence Police Department

Derrick Del Reed

A Lawrence teen accused of murder in the shooting death of another teen plans to argue that he acted in self-defense under Kansas’ “stand your ground” law, his attorney said Tuesday in Douglas County District Court.

Derrick Del Reed, 17, who is charged with one count of first-degree murder, appeared in court via Zoom on Tuesday, and attorneys discussed when to hear two motions that had been filed in the case — one from the state for Reed to be tried as an adult, and another from defense attorney Mark Hartman for immunity from prosecution on self-defense grounds.

Reed is alleged to have shot 14-year-old Kamarjay Shaw in the 1300 block of Maple Lane sometime before 5 p.m. on Saturday, as the Journal-World previously reported. According to charging documents, Reed lives in the 1300 block of Maple Lane, and police previously said they believed that Shaw and Reed knew each other.

Hartman did not provide any specifics on Tuesday about the planned self-defense argument, but he said he thought the motions from the prosecution and the defense shouldn’t be heard at the same time. He said the “spirit” of the immunity motion suggested that it should be heard before anything else in the case, and he objected to even setting a court date for the state’s motion to be heard.

“I anticipate the case to be over at the stand-your-ground hearing,” Hartman said.

Judge Paul Klepper set a date of April 20 and 21 for the hearing on the self-defense motion and said that another judge, Sally Pokorny, would be hearing the prosecution’s motion to try Reed as an adult. Hartman asked the judge to appoint Reed an investigator to start “knocking on doors” right away to find additional witnesses and information in the case, but Klepper said Hartman would need to file the appropriate motions before the court would appoint anyone.

Reed is currently in custody with Douglas County Youth Services, and Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden asked that Reed remain in detention. Hartman said he did not object to that.

Reed has no apparent history of prior criminal charges or convictions in Douglas County. Shaw had no criminal convictions but was facing five felony charges at the time of his death, according to publicly available court records.

Shaw was charged in April of 2021 with one felony count of aggravated robbery for allegedly stealing a cell phone from another teenager and harming the teenager in the process, according to charging documents. In June of 2021, he was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old with a gun, according to court records. In the same incident, he was also charged with possession of a firearm with a barrel less than 12 inches long, a misdemeanor. He was ordered to house arrest, detention day schooling and GPS monitoring, and court records say that in March 2022 he was charged with removing his GPS ankle monitor, another felony. Then, in December 2022, he was charged with felony criminal threat for allegedly threatening a Douglas County Youth Services worker.

In January 2023, Douglas County Youth Services recommended that Shaw be removed from his home and placed in juvenile detention, citing repeated violations of his house arrest conditions. Court records also say his mother called Youth Services and asked for Shaw to be detained because he was using illegal substances and was physically violent with her. Shaw was allowed to remain in the home and was ordered in February to undergo regular therapy sessions. He was next scheduled to appear in court for the robbery, assault, removal of tracking device and criminal threat charges on March 29.