photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Christopher C. Maier

A Lawrence man’s attempted murder charge has been dismissed for now because the state has been unable to locate the alleged victim.

Christopher Coty Maier, 37, was charged with one felony count of attempted second-degree murder in connection with a stabbing on Dec. 28, 2022, in the 300 block of Maine Street near Sandra J. Shaw Park, as the Journal-World reported. On Thursday, he was scheduled for a preliminary hearing, at which the state would have attempted to show that there was probable cause to believe Maier had committed the crime.

However, Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal asked Judge Stacey Donovan to postpone the hearing because it had been several months since the state had had contact with the alleged victim.

Donovan declined to delay the hearing, saying the state had had plenty of time to prepare. She noted that Maier had been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 13, 2023 — more than two years — and that the case had already been delayed numerous times so the court could determine Maier’s competency.

Leal then moved to dismiss the charge without prejudice, meaning that the charge could be refiled at a later date if the state reconnects with the victim.

Maier’s attorney, Adam Zentner, then asked the court to modify Maier’s bond in two other cases so that he could be released from the Douglas County Jail.

One of those cases is a felony drug possession case in which Maier has been convicted but not yet sentenced. After his conviction in October 2022, he was released on bond until his sentencing, but then did not appear for the sentencing. In the other case, Maier was accused of having contraband — a knife — at the Douglas County Jail in August 2023.

Currently, Maier is being held on a $5,000 bond for the drug possession case and a $1,000 bond for the contraband case.

Maier claimed on Thursday that the contraband case wouldn’t have happened if he were never arrested on the now-dismissed attempted murder charge. He also claimed that the contraband case was a crime with no victim and should not have been charged at all.

Donovan denied any modification to Maier’s bond. She said the $5,000 bond for the drug case was appropriate after his failure to appear at sentencing, and the $1,000 bond for the contraband case was already a low bond amount.

Donovan then scheduled Maier to appear for a preliminary hearing in the contraband case on Feb. 6.

Maier has additional convictions dating back to 2012 in Douglas County for felony conspiracy to commit robbery as well as felony aggravated battery and felony aggravated assault in 2018, as the Journal-world reported.