photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Nov. 25, 2025.

A Douglas County inmate who was seeking to visit his infant daughter at a Kansas City, Missouri, hospital, was given court permission to do so on Friday, but by then the child had died.

The inmate, Jaystyn Curtiss, 20, of Lawrence, was still going to be allowed to see his child on Friday afternoon for one hour, accompanied by Douglas County deputies and hospital security.

Curtiss’ appointed attorney, Michael Clarke, indicated nine days ago to Judge Nancy Parrish that he would be requesting a transport order so that Curtiss could visit the 6-week-old baby in the neonatal intensive care unit “before she passes.”

Clarke had not filed the transport request at the time of that hearing on May 20 but said he intended to. The hearing was then continued for eight days to Thursday. But on the morning of the hearing Clarke abruptly withdrew from representing Curtiss, citing his client’s dissatisfaction with their working relationship. A new attorney, Razmi Tahirkheli, was appointed, and the hearing was continued one more day to Friday.

Sometime between the Thursday afternoon hearing and the Friday morning hearing, the child died.

At Thursday’s hearing, Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis had told Judge Parrish that according to information provided to him the baby had been in the hospital since birth, suffering from a mitochondrial disease and that she was “not actively dying” but was not likely to “ever recover.”

On Friday morning, the parties appeared in court once more. Parrish called the case and immediately announced that it was her understanding that “the child is deceased,” causing Curtiss to erupt in sobs and put his head on the defense table.

“Did he not know?” asked Parrish, who offered her condolences.

Parrish also acknowledged that her understanding from the day before was that the child had been in a “stable” state. It was not clear when the baby died or when Curtiss learned of it.

Tahirkheli requested that Curtiss be allowed to visit the hospital for one hour on Friday afternoon, and Loomis volunteered his office to draw up the transport order that Parrish said she would sign.

Loomis also offered condolences to Curtiss and the child’s other relatives.

Curtiss is currently in jail on a bond of $200,000 after he was arrested May 15 and charged with two counts of aggravated battery in the shootings of Daja Lana Buchanan and Michael D. Phillips III. The two were wounded around 9:30 p.m. May 14 near the intersection of 16th Street and Haskell Avenue. Police said at the time that they were taken to a trauma center and were expected to fully recover.

Curtiss was arrested following a broad search involving drones, police dogs and multiple law enforcement agencies.

Also on Friday, Clarke abruptly withdrew from a felony domestic battery case just one business day before the trial was set to start. That case involves defendant Shaleah Kauffman, who has been convicted twice previously of domestic battery, according to court records. Clarke asked that the courtroom be cleared so that he could explain his reasons for withdrawing. Parrish closed the courtroom to the public for more than half an hour. When she recalled the case, she indicated that Tahirkheli would be representing Kauffman going forward.