photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Travis Turner leaves the courtroom after being sentenced for rape on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Douglas County judge on Wednesday ordered a convicted rapist to spend the next two decades of his life in prison — rejecting his request for a significantly lighter sentence.

Judge Stacey Donovan’s ruling followed the victim’s disturbing description of how the man had raped her in the bed where her children were sleeping.

“I was crying, begging him to stop, and he didn’t care,” the woman said of 38-year-old Travis Turner.

Turner pleaded guilty in September to one count of rape in a deal with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. He was originally charged with two counts of rape and two counts of criminal sodomy — all relating to events on May 13.

The woman recounted a night of torture, pain and humiliation, telling the court that Turner had been an abusive “monster” to her on many other occasions as well, terrorizing her with physical and emotional brutality and threatening to kill her children.

“It pleased him to hurt me and to have control over me,” she said.

She spoke through tears on the witness stand instead of at the lectern where victims usually speak at sentencing hearings. On the stand, she was able to face Turner, but she never looked directly at him. He appeared to mostly gaze down at the table as the victim read through a long list of abuses and indignities Turner had put her through.

Earlier, Turner’s attorney, Angelo Panas-Cabrera, sought to persuade Donovan that substantial and compelling reasons existed to sentence Turner to 16 years instead of 20. He said Turner had shown remorse by waiving his preliminary hearing; that he has “only four misdemeanors” on his record and hadn’t had a conviction in over five years; that he had a tumultuous childhood with an imprisoned dad and time in foster care; that he had been homeless off and on; and that he had mental trauma from the tragedy of his 2-year-old son dying after being left in a hot car by a relative.

Panas-Cabrera also said that a shorter sentence would reduce prison overcrowding and costs to taxpayers, which courts are urged to consider during sentencing.

But prosecutor Todd Hiatt replied that the latter wasn’t a valid consideration in the present case.

“This isn’t a DUI case,” he said. “This isn’t something minor. This is someone raped in front of her children.”

The victim, Hiatt said, also had a horrible childhood — one as bad as Turner’s — and, on top of that, now had to live with being violently victimized by someone who should have shown empathy.

The victim reiterated that point on the stand: “There’s no excuse to rape someone no matter what you’ve been through in life,” she told the court.

Two other women spoke on the victim’s behalf, describing how Turner’s abuse had damaged and frightened the woman, stealing her “happiness.” Both called him “evil” and “the devil” and urged Judge Donovan to sentence him “to every single day that you can.”

Donovan could have gone as high as 22 years, but settled on 20 after taking a brief recess to review the arguments, including a brief apology from Turner for “the wrong and pain I’ve caused.”

Despite that apology, Donovan said, “The court did not hear remorse.” Nor did the court ultimately find any substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines.

In addition to the 20-year sentence, Turner will be subject to lifetime post-release supervision and will also have to register as a sex offender until he dies.

To the victim, Donovan expressed the hope that she could “start to heal.”

“I hope today is a turning point for you,” she said.