photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Maliqe T. K. Crenshaw

A Lawrence man pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in Douglas County District Court in connection with a 2023 shooting that killed a Topeka man.

The man, Maliqe Crenshaw, 23, was originally charged with one felony count of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 20-year-old Cameron Renner on June 3 around 1 a.m. in the 2400 block of Cedarwood Drive, as the Journal-World reported.

Crenshaw was set to go to trial in August on the murder charge but at a pre-trial conference on Tuesday he entered into a plea agreement that reduced the high-level felony with a minimum sentence of nine years to a midlevel felony of involuntary manslaughter with a minimum sentence of two and a half years in prison. The lower charge also makes Crenshaw eligible for probation at the discretion of Judge Stacey Donovan.

Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald said that the state does not believe that Crenshaw has any prior convictions that would affect his sentence and that Crenshaw would be allowed to argue for either probation or a reduced prison sentence at his sentencing.

Greenwald said that as part of the plea agreement, the state would dismiss two other cases against Crenshaw and would not file two others. The uncharged incidents relate to two domestic incidents in November of 2023.

One of the charged cases that was dismissed included one count of misdemeanor domestic battery and one felony count of criminal threat in connection with an incident on Dec. 3, 2022. The other charged case included one felony count of aggravated domestic battery and one misdemeanor count each of domestic battery and violation of a protection order in connection with an incident on Aug. 28, 2023, according to court records.

Donovan accepted Crenshaw’s plea and scheduled him to be sentenced on Sept. 27. She said that Crenshaw would be required to register as a violent offender for 15 years.

Crenshaw had intended to argue that he acted in self-defense, according to a motion for immunity filed in June by Crenshaw’s attorney, Jessica Glendening. The motion said that Renner and his friends had threatened to kill Crenshaw and his friends about an hour before the shooting and pointed a gun at the screen during a video call. The motion described an explosive thrown onto Crenshaw’s balcony, which Crenshaw, outside the residence, believed to be the sound of gunshots, prompting him to fire his gun in the direction of the flashes of light. Renner was shot in the process, the motion said.

Crenshaw and his friends drove Renner to the hospital, where Renner was later pronounced dead.

“Upon arrival, Mr. Crenshaw volunteered to the awaiting officers that he fired his weapon in fear for his life, but did not want to hurt anybody. The police noted Mr. Crenshaw was ‘very cooperative,'” the motion said.

Crenshaw was not arrested that night and told police he did not know who the victim was, police said at the time. Lawrence police arrested Crenshaw five months later on Nov. 14, 2023. They initiated a high-risk felony traffic stop and issued a press release that said “After a months-long investigation, investigators were able to tie forensic evidence to Crenshaw, leading to his arrest yesterday.”

The Journal-World has requested the police affidavit in support of Crenshaw’s arrest, which was previously sealed, to learn more about the investigation.

Crenshaw has been in custody on a $500,000 bond since his arrest. The Journal-World has requested Crenshaw’s booking photo from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

photo by: Lawrence Police Department

A picture from police dash camera video shows the arrest of Maliqe Crenshaw on suspicion of second-degree murder on Nov. 14, 2023, in the 2200 block of Louisiana Street.