photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Markcus Trey Sanders appears at a hearing on Nov. 25, 2024, in Douglas County District Court,

A woman testified on Monday that she feared for her and her child’s life during an armed residential robbery that happened in 2022.

Two men were charged in the case shortly after it happened at a house on June 30, 2022, in the 3000 block of Bainbridge Circle. One, Chester Wendell Brockman, 52, of Lawrence, has already been tried and convicted in connection with the case while his codefendant, Markcus Trey Sanders, 30, had been wanted by police until he was arrested in March, as the Journal-World reported.

Sanders appeared on Monday for the first half of his preliminary hearing and is charged with one felony count of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and one felony count of aggravated burglary.

A woman testified that she was at home with her daughter when Brockman knocked on her door and asked her for marijuana. When she told Brockman she could not help him, he forced his way into the house at gunpoint. She said shortly after she saw a man wearing a dark ski mask enter through the back door of the duplex.

She said she believed the man to be Sanders because her boyfriend had sold drugs to Sanders before. However, she said the man she believed to be Sanders did not speak to her and she could not see the man’s hair or eye color.

“These are details I was not paying attention to after the gun was drawn on me,” the woman said.

The woman said she put her daughter down and took the men to her garage where the men took a tote of marijuana her boyfriend had. She then led Brockman to her upstairs bedroom where Brockman took “thousands” of dollars in cash but she did not personally know how much money was taken because she was not directly involved in her boyfriend’s marijuana sales.

She said she and Brockman went back downstairs and while Brockman and Sanders were talking in the garage, she grabbed her child and escaped to a neighbor’s house. She said the neighbor then called 911 and she called her boyfriend to tell him she had just been robbed at gunpoint.

Sanders’ attorney, John Kerns, asked the woman how involved she was in her boyfriend’s drug sales and how she could tell it was Sanders who came into her house that day. The woman said she observed between 20-50 sales between 2019 and 2022 and that at least five of those deals involved Sanders. She said during the robbery, she stood about an arm’s length away from Sanders.

When you have a gun pulled on you, your life kind of flashes before your eyes,” the woman said.

Lawrence Police Detective Adam Welch then testified that he had collected video surveillance from a motel nearby that showed two men matching the description of the suspects getting out of a black Volvo. In the video, the two men walk in the direction of the robbery and return shortly after. Welch said he believes Brockman is carrying a handgun while Sanders places a tote and bag into the back of the vehicle and the two drove away.

Welch said Brockman was picked up later that day and during his police interview, Brockman identified himself in the video and said he was with his nephew.

During his own trial in January, Brockman testified that he was with his nephew, Sanders, before and after the robbery. Brockman said he went to the house to buy marijuana and after the woman answered the door, Sanders came running out of the house. He said he saw someone in a ski mask that he did not believe was Sanders, as the Journal-World reported.

Monday’s hearing was cut short because a detective who worked on the case was on vacation. Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald said that he would present testimony from two more detectives at a later date. Judge Stacey Donovan then scheduled the remainder of the hearing for Jan. 3, 2025. Sanders is currently free on a $100,000 bond.

photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Chester Wendell Brockman, left, Markcus Trey Sanders, right