photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Garnel Andreus Moore Williams is pictured Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Douglas County District Court.

A defendant accused of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery was set to have a preliminary hearing on Thursday but instead got a new attorney.

Garnel Andreus Moore Williams, 31, is facing the two felony charges for a November incident in which Lawrence police said several people were held at gunpoint for hours and some were strip-searched after Moore Williams claimed money had been stolen from him at an apartment on Michigan Street. The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has dismissed a third felony charge of aggravated assault.

Before the scheduled start of Thursday’s preliminary hearing Moore Williams told Judge Amy Hanley that he wanted “to fire” his defense attorney, Razmi Tahirkheli, over an assortment of issues, none of which Hanley found to be reasonable. Hanley told Moore Williams that only she could remove an appointed attorney from the case and denied his request, saying Tahirkheli was a highly experienced defense attorney and telling Moore Williams she had reason to believe “you’re not going to listen to any attorney I appoint for you.”

Hanley offered Moore Williams the option of a continuance to get on a better footing with his legal representation. Tahirkheli, however, told the court that he now believed that communication between him and Moore Williams had broken down to a degree that could not be salvaged.

Hanley then appointed defense attorney Michael Clarke to represent Moore Williams and said his preliminary hearing would be rescheduled.

Clarke is the fourth attorney appointed to Moore Williams’ case. The Public Defender Office withdrew due to a conflict, then Tahirkheli and co-counsel Angela Trimble were allowed to withdraw.

According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Moore Williams has served prison time and has been convicted of numerous felonies, including drug possession in 2017 in Douglas County, burglary in 2014 in Douglas County, and aggravated assault, robbery and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling/vehicle in 2018 in Shawnee County.