photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Kristopher Koby Alaniz

A man was convicted Friday of voluntary manslaughter in the drug death of a 32-year-old Lawrence father.

The defendant, Kristopher Koby Alaniz, 35, pleaded guilty in Douglas County District Court to that charge and to a felony paraphernalia charge as part of a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office in which multiple other felony charges were dropped.

When asked by Judge Sally Pokorny to provide a factual basis for Alaniz’s plea, Deputy DA David Greenwald said that on April 9 of this year Alaniz “killed David Joseph Johnson” at a residence on West 25th Street in southern Lawrence. The paraphernalia conviction, Greenwald said, was related to the use of fentanyl.

Johnson was the father of a young daughter. His obituary describes him as “a loving, silly, kind, loyal, adventurous, and fun Son, Brother, Grandson, Nephew, Uncle, Friend, and most importantly, Father.” It says he loved decorating for the holidays and “spent every second he could running around with his daughter taking her to all the creeks, lakes, and trails around town. They frequented all of the play grounds and parks trying to find the ‘most epic playground.'”

Alaniz, who must now register as a violent offender, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7. He will face a minimum of 55 months and a maximum of 247 months in prison for the voluntary manslaughter conviction, depending on his criminal history and the findings of a presentence investigation report, Pokorny told him. In the paraphernalia conviction he faces 10 to 42 months.

Alaniz has three felony convictions in Douglas County for drug sales in 2009, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

In exchange for Alaniz’s guilty pleas, the state agreed to drop several other felony charges related to drug possession, distribution and paraphernalia. The state also agreed to withdraw its motions to revoke his probation related to two domestic battery cases and to close out those cases.