photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Zachary Taylor Maddux is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for striking an off-duty police officer with a tire iron in 2022. He is the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced in the case.

The man, Zachary Taylor Maddux, 20, of Lawrence, pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated battery in July as part of a plea agreement that lowered his original charge from attempted first-degree murder, as the Journal-World reported.

The charge relates to an incident in the early-morning hours of Nov. 4, 2022, when Maddux along with four other men pursued and attacked an off-duty Lawrence police officer, Austin Corbitt, near the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and George Williams Way. Maddux turned 20 on Friday, the day that Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced him to 144 months, or 12 years, in prison. Maddux will also be required to register as a violent offender after his release for 15 years. Court records indicate that Donovan granted Maddux a small departure from what Kansas sentencing guidelines had recommended. With Maddux’s felony juvenile record, state law prescribed a standard sentence of 162 months, 13.5 years.

His attorney, Michael Clarke, had asked the court to sentence Maddux to 144 months in light of Maddux’s young age and troubled childhood, according to court records. The state had agreed to support the lower sentence, according to the plea agreement. Maddux has nine felony convictions on his juvenile record, including multiple counts of aggravated battery, robbery, theft and interference with law enforcement, according to court records.

Maddux spent nearly 22 months in jail since he was arrested the day of the incident, and he is eligible for 15% good time credit, which could reduce his sentence by about 21.6 months if he behaves while in prison.

Maddux along with his four co-defendants who were driving around together in the same vehicle were arrested shortly after the incident. Maddux was named by his co-defendant Xaviar Dean Anderson, 21, of Pomona, as the instigator of the attack. Anderson said that Maddux wanted to attack or rob pedestrians as the group of men were driving around Lawrence, as the Journal-World reported.

After the group of men identified Corbitt as a target, the driver, Jackson Eugene Brouhard, 21, stopped the vehicle while Maddux, armed with a tire iron, and then 17-year-old Davin Kerr approached Corbitt on the sidewalk. Corbitt and Maddux exchanged blows, and as Corbitt tried to flee the men, Maddux struck Corbitt with the tire iron.

Maddux and Kerr got back into the vehicle and pursued Corbitt, but Corbitt took refuge under a bridge nearby. While the men were looking for Corbitt, Addison Jon Leo Giullian, 20, of Lawrence, fired a gun out the window of the vehicle twice to scare Corbitt. Corbitt called 911 and hid until police arrived.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Pictured from left are Jackson Eugene Brouhard, Addison Jon Leo Giullian and Xaviar Dean Anderson. Not pictured is Davin Kerr.

Co-defendants’ pleas

Brouhard pleaded guilty in February 2023 to one felony count of reckless aggravated battery and was sentenced to three years of probation with an underlying sentence of 34 months in prison.

Giullian pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in March 2023 and was sentenced to 11 months in prison in May.

Kerr, 18, pleaded no contest to one felony count of aggravated battery in March 2023 and was sentenced to nine months of probation.

Anderson pleaded guilty in September 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and one count of aggravated intimidation of a victim, both felonies. He was sentenced to 38 months in prison but that sentence was suspended to two years of probation in accordance with state law.