LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man who molested a girl for more than two years has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
Thirty-five-year-old James Fletcher was sentenced Thursday for five counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Prosecutors said he repeatedly fondled the girl’s breasts, starting when she was 11.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports about 30 people who supported Fletcher attended the sentencing. His attorneys had filed nearly 30 letters backing Fletcher, who had no previous criminal record.
The judge said the community support was admirable but was not sufficient reason to depart from sentencing guidelines mandating life in prison for the crimes.
Fletcher’s attorney, Sarah Swain, said she planned to immediately appeal the sentence.
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security is planning to conduct chemical and biological tests near the border between Kansas and Oklahoma.
The department officials plan to execute a “low level outdoor release” of inert chemical and biological simulant materials at the old Chilocco Indian School in January and again in June. The campus is in Oklahoma, just 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) south of Arkansas City, Kansas.
The department says the test is to determine how protected people would be when staying inside if biological agents are used in a terror attack.
Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas said Thursday he has “numerous questions” about the tests. He says federal agencies “need to be 100 percent certain this test is safe for the residents of south-central Kansas.”
David Jordan, director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, and other Medicaid expansion advocates see promise in election results this week in Maine and Virginia. They plan to press lawmakers to expand KanCare during the 2018 session. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Medicaid expansion advocates say Kansas policymakers should take notice of elections this week in Maine and Virginia.
In Maine, lawmakers sent five expansion bills to Republican Gov. Paul LePage in recent years. He vetoed them all. So Maine voters took matters into their own hands Tuesday by overwhelmingly approving a ballot initiative authorizing expansion.
In the Virginia governor’s race, Ralph Northam, a Democrat who supported expansion, handily defeated Ed Gillespie, a Republican who didn’t, in a race where nearly 40 percent of voters cited health care as a top issue.
Kansas doesn’t have an initiative and referendum process, so expansion advocates can’t force a statewide vote on the issue. But they will continue their efforts to win legislative approval of an expansion bill, said David Jordan, director of the pro-expansion Alliance for a Healthy Kansas.
“We’re going to strongly push for expanding KanCare in the upcoming session,” Jordan said, referring to the state’s privatized Medicaid program.
“It’s clear from our polling that over three-quarters of Kansans support expanding KanCare,” Jordan said, adding that this week’s election results show that voters will “reward candidates” who support expansion.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed an expansion bill in March that would have made approximately 150,000 low-income adults eligible for KanCare coverage. Lawmakers attempted to override the veto but fell a few votes short.
When the 2018 session convenes in January, advocates may attempt to gain support among lawmakers concerned about the cost of expansion by proposing an increase in the state’s tobacco tax to pay for it, Jordan said.
Brownback’s expected departure for a State Department post in the Trump administration would put the issue in the hands of Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, who also has been a strong opponent of KanCare expansion.
Even so, advocates hope that Colyer’s perceived need to differentiate himself from the unpopular Brownback ahead of the 2018 election might prompt him to reconsider.
If that is a possibility, Colyer gave no indication of it during a recent interview. When asked about polls showing broad support for expansion among Kansas voters, he said, “It depends on how you ask Kansans the question.”
“What Kansans have made clear is that they don’t want more government, they want smaller government,” Colyer said. “But they want results.”
NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — A man charged with killing three people in Kansas has pleaded not guilty.
The plea was entered Thursday for 36-year-old Jereme Nelson during a Harvey County Court hearing.
He is facing one count of capital murder and three counts of first-degree murder.
Nelson is one of two people accused of killing 33-year-old Travis Street, 37-year-old Angela Graevs, and 52-year-old Richard Prouty at a rural home in Harvey County in October 2016. An 18-month-old child was found unharmed.
The other suspect, 32-year-old Myrta Rangel, is charged in federal court with providing Nelson with the weapon that prosecutors say was used in the killings.
Nelson’s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 12.
Nelson and Rangel fled to Mexico after the deaths but were extradited back to Kansas in January.
Sykes -photo from a previous arrest in Wyandotte Co.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A police interrogation of a Kansas City man charged with drug and gun offenses ended prematurely when an investigator was driven from the room by the suspect’s excessive flatulence.
A detective reported that when asked for his address, 24-year-old Sean Sykes Jr. “leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart before answering.”
The Kansas City Star reports that Sykes “continued to be flatulent” and the detective was forced to quickly end the interview.
Sykes appeared in court Monday, charged with being a felon in possession of three firearms and possession with intent to sell cocaine. The charges stem from police traffic stops this month and in September in Kansas City.
The federal public defender’s office hasn’t responded to an Associated Press email seeking comment Friday.
CONWAY SPRINGS— A Kansas priest who took a hiking trip with children and no other adults has been removed from the pulpit, although no abuse has been alleged.
The Diocese of Wichita described what happened in a letter to parishioners Thursday. It says the priest was removed from ministry at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway Springs after an Oct. 9 hiking trip. Conway Springs is about 25 miles northwest of Wichita.
The letter says there were no allegations of abuse and that “no harm was done to the children.” Being alone with a minor goes against behavioral boundaries set by the diocese.
A statement announcing the priest’s leave was read at each of the Masses at St. Joseph Catholic Church on the weekend of Oct. 14-15.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison in a fatal shooting during a botched robbery outside a Kansas City, Kansas, bar.
The Kansas City Star reports that 20-year-old Filiberto Espinoza Jr. won’t be eligible for parole for 25 years under the sentence ordered Thursday for first-degree felony murder.
Prosecutors allege that Espinoza and co-defendant Efrain Gonzalez confronted 29-year-old Louis Scherzer in November 2016 and that Scherzer was shot in the back when he turned to get away.
Scherzer was a union steward who worked for the Board of Public Utilities in Wyandotte County. His fiancee, Ellie Long, was among the family and friends gathered inside the bar at the time of the shooting. She said the crime “stole my future.”
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a pair of parking lot armed robberies and search for a suspect.
At approximately 7:45pm, a woman told police she was unloading her car in the 1400 Block of SW Tyler in Topeka when an older black compact passenger car pulled up next to her. One of the passengers, described as a white male, 20’s, with no facial hair, wearing a dark colored hoodie, pointed a black handgun at her and demanded her purse.
The suspect and vehicle then fled the area. This suspect description matches that given in the robbery at 1801 SW Wanamaker. In that instance, the suspect robbed a woman of her purse as she was walking in the parking lot at 1801 SW Wanamaker.
The suspect then got into a vehicle described as a dark passenger car and fled the area. The victim was not injured.
Anyone with information about these robberies is encouraged to call the Topeka Police.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is divided over whether a law requiring criminal offenders to register with local authorities after prison represents extra punishment.
A 4-3 majority has concluded that registration for sex, drug and violent offenders is not extra punishment. Its latest decision came Thursday in the appeal of Djuan Richardson.
He was convicted of selling cocaine in Sedgwick County in 2003 and pleaded guilty to violating the offender registration law in 2011. He later sought unsuccessfully to withdraw that plea.
Registration for drug offenders was mandated after Richardson’s first conviction. He argued it was unconstitutional to apply the requirement to him.
But in a series of rulings starting last year, the court’s majority has said offender registration is not punishment but a regulatory scheme that can be applied retroactively.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man who molested a girl for more than two years has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
