photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Hunter J. Noravong

A judge ordered a year of probation on Wednesday for a man accused of selling wristbands to a group of underage people so that they could drink alcohol at The Jayhawk Cafe just hours before a fatal shooting there.

Hunter J. Noravong, 20, was originally charged with four counts of “purchase or consumption of alcoholic beverage by a minor,” a Class C nonperson misdemeanor. But on Wednesday, he pleaded no contest to two of those counts, and the state dropped the other two in exchange.

Just after Noravong’s plea, Judge Carl Folsom III sentenced him to 30 days in the Douglas County Jail, then suspended that sentence to 12 months of unsupervised probation.

Wristbands are often used at college bars like the Jayhawk Cafe, commonly known as The Hawk, to show that someone wearing them is at least 21 years old and thus allowed to drink alcohol. As the Journal-World reported, the group Noravong allegedly sold the wristbands to would be connected to the altercation and shooting at The Hawk on Jan. 17. The two teens who were shot were 18-year-old Aidan Knowles, who died on the scene, and 16-year-old Brady Clark, who has since turned 17 and was critically wounded.

Two more teens, Daitron Daniels Strickland and Caiden Clem, both 19 now but 18 at the time, have been charged in connection with the shootings; both were convicted felons who were not allowed to possess guns.

Prosecutor Jason McIlrath said Wednesday that Noravong couldn’t have known that Knowles and Clark would be shot that night. But he said “it’s important to know that happened,” because the cases “kind of overlap.” He said the consequences for Noravong’s actions would “help him see how he contributed to this and go and make right choices in the future.”

Noravong’s arrest affidavit, prepared by an Alcoholic Beverage Control agent, said that nine males were caught on cameras in the area trying to get into The Hawk, being turned away, then going in through a side door and being escorted back out. The affidavit then describes the group meeting with the driver of a dark-colored compact SUV — reportedly Noravong — and shortly thereafter returning to The Hawk wearing the blue wristbands.

According to the affidavit, one of those males was Clark, and another one was Clem, whose name was redacted, but who was identified as wearing an orange sweatsuit, an outfit exclusively associated with him in other court documents and testimony.

Noravong was not affiliated with The Hawk, and according to the affidavit, he was positively identified by three people from the underage group as having sold wristbands to them. The criminal complaint alleges that he sold wristbands to four individuals with the initials BC (born in 2009), DC (born in 2008), CA (born in 2008) and JG (born in 2010).

Folsom asked whether, under different circumstances, Noravong’s case would have been eligible for a diversion agreement — an alternative to a typical prosecution, where if certain terms are satisfied, the criminal charge is dismissed and ultimately expunged from the person’s record as though it never happened. McIlrath said that it could have been a diversion case, and there were discussions about a potential diversion that “went all the way up to the DA himself,” District Attorney Dakota Loomis. But the DA’s Office ultimately decided against it, McIlrath said.

Noravong’s attorney, Michael Hunter, said his client was “a bright young man who has learned from his mistakes,” and that he had expressed remorse for being the first link in “a catastrophic chain” of events that night.

Before he was sentenced, Noravong made a brief apology.

“I’m extremely remorseful to any and all parties in this case,” Noravong said. “It was never my intention to cause any trouble or cause anyone harm.”

In addition to his probation sentence, state statute also requires Noravong to pay a fine for these offenses, but Folsom imposed the lowest possible fine at $200 for each count, and Noravong will have until the end of his probation to pay it. Noravong’s driver’s license may also be suspended by the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles because of this conviction, Folsom said.