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.

The fifth and final defendant and instigator of an attack on an off-duty police officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aggravated battery in a deal with prosecutors.

The man, Zachary Taylor Maddux, 19, of Lawrence, was originally charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of attempted first-degree murder. In exchange for his guilty plea, the state reduced that charge to one count of aggravated battery. Maddux was set to go to trial next week but entered his plea instead at a pretrial conference.

Court records indicate that Maddux has the highest criminal history score possible, meaning that if he had been convicted of the attempted murder charge at trial he could have been sentenced to about 50 years in prison, in accordance with state law. Maddux has nine felony convictions on his juvenile record, including convictions for aggravated battery, robbery, theft and interference with law enforcement.

The aggravated battery is charged as a level-4 felony with a maximum penalty of 14.3 years, but Maddux’s plea deal indicates that he agreed to serve 144 months, or 12 years, in prison. Maddux will also be required to register as a violent offender after his release for 15 years. He has been in custody since his arrest on a $250,000 bond and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 23. Judges are not bound by sentencing agreements that the parties make in plea agreements.

Maddux is alleged to have been the instigator of an attack on Lawrence police officer Austin Corbitt when he was off duty in the early-morning hours of Nov. 4, 2022, near the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and George Williams Way. Four other men were also involved.

Maddux’s codefendant, Xaviar Dean Anderson, 20, of Pomona, told Lawrence police detective Josh Leitner after his arrest that Maddux had been badgering the driver of the vehicle, Jackson Eugene Brouhard, 21, to stop the vehicle as they were driving around that night so Maddux could fight or rob pedestrians they had passed, as the Journal-World reported.

Brouhard stopped the car. Maddux then confronted Corbitt and attacked him with a tire iron. Another codefendant, Davin Kerr, 18, of Lawrence, had joined Maddux and demanded money from Corbitt. After a brief fight between Corbitt and Maddux, Corbitt was able to flee the scene, but not before Maddux struck him in the back of the head with the tire iron.

As Corbitt fled, the men returned to their vehicle and pursued Corbitt to prevent him from calling the police. The men could not find Corbitt but as they searched for him their codefendant, 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 under an overpass until police arrived. All five men were arrested later that morning after their vehicle was stopped by police.

Codefendants’ 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 in May to 11 months in prison.

Kerr, who was 17 at the time of the incident, 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.

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.