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 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.
WICHITA– Law enforcement authorities have indicted four suspects on drug charges following a year-long, multi-county investigation into methamphetamine distribution concluded in south central Kansas, according to a media release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Named in the Nov. 1 indictment were: Ashton Malone, 33, of Wichita, Kan., Justin Slayden, 35, of Winfield, Kan. and April Slayden, 38, of Park City, Kan. Jeremiah Raper, 35, of Wichita, Kan. was charged in an earlier indictment. The indictments allege the subjects unlawfully, knowingly and willingly distributed methamphetamine.
Each defendant was charged with felony distribution of methamphetamine, and Justin Slayden was also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst is prosecuting.
Raper-photo KDOCMalone-photo KDOC
KBI special agents, along with law enforcement from the Park City Police Department, the Winfield Police Department, the El Dorado Police Department, the Wellington Police Department, the Wichita Police Department, the Kansas Highway Patrol, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives participated in the investigation.
Kansas Sec. of State Kobach at meeting of President Donald Trump’s commission on election fraud
WASHINGTON —A member of President Donald Trump’s commission on voter fraud sued in federal court on Thursday, alleging that the commission is violating federal law by excluding him and others from participating and refusing to provide documents available to other members.
The lawsuit, filed by Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap in Washington, D.C., claims violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It asks the court to compel the commission to hand over all documents he’s requested, share all future documents, to include him in all communications and to prevent the release of any final report until he has had a chance to review it.
“My goal in filing this lawsuit is to bring the commission into full compliance with FACA, which would allow me and all of my fellow commissioners to fulfill our roles as full, participating members and provide a meaningful report to the President upon concluding our work,” Dunlap said in a statement.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who serves as the commission’s vice chair, blasted the lawsuit as “baseless and paranoid.” He said he hasn’t received any communications either, and said the commission’s work has been stalled by eight lawsuits, the unrelated arrest of a staff member and the death of a fellow commissioner.
“Ironically, Dunlap’s lawsuit is only going to increase the workload faced by Commission staff and Department of Justice Attorneys,” Kobach said in a statement.
Emails seeking comment from the office of Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the commission, and Andrew Kossack, the commission’s executive director, were not immediately returned. All three are named defendants, along with the Executive Office of the President, which is staffing the commission and maintaining its records. The lawsuit was filed on Dunlap’s behalf by American Oversight, a watchdog group.
The commission has spurred controversy from the moment it was established in May. Its first significant action was to request a wide range of information about all registered voters in every state, including partial Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and voting history.
Critics say Trump is using the commission to find support for his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud that cost him the popular vote during the 2016 election. Democrat Hillary Clinton received 2.8 million more votes nationwide than Trump.
After facing strong criticism from both Republican and Democratic state officials, the commission scaled back the request but questions remain over how useful the information will be since 15 states have refused to participate, according to a survey by the Associated Press.
Dunlap’s lawsuit said Trump, Pence and Kobach included the four Democrats serving on the 11-member panel “to provide a veneer of legitimacy by making the commission’s membership bipartisan.” Instead, the lawsuit said, “the Commission and its staff have compromised the legitimacy of any findings that may emerge from this process.”
While there have been isolated cases of voter fraud in the U.S., there is no evidence of it being a widespread problem.
Critics have said the commission is stacked with people who favor voting restrictions, rather than expanding access, and has a predetermined agenda that will result in recommendations making it more difficult for people to register to vote, remain registered and cast ballots.
Last month, the Government Accountability Office agreed with a group of U.S. senators to investigate their concerns of a lack of transparency. Democratic senators have filed at least five separate requests for information with the commission since June, and a Sept. 12 follow-up letter noted that none had received a response.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law also is suing, alleges the commission is violating federal open meetings and disclosure laws. Kristen Clarke, the group’s president, said Dunlap’s lawsuit shows how chaotic and dysfunctional the commission has been.
“That its own members are in the dark about the way that the Commission operates and deliberates makes clear that this Commission is no more than a tool to advance this administration’s voter suppression agenda,” Clarke said in a statement.
LYON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged attempted assault and asking for help to identify a suspect.
Just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to the dog park in Emporia for report of a woman who had been accosted, according to a media release. The woman told police a man had been jogging around the park and then approached her. He grabbed her arm and threatened to harm her. The woman said no multiple times and believes her assertive dog prevented the suspect from harming her.
The suspect left the area in a small, red passenger car. The victim took a photo of the vehicle before he drove away.
She described the suspect as African-American in his twenties, muscular build and a short buzz style haircut. He wore a red t-shirt and black jogging pants.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has endorsed a prosecutor’s nomination for a federal judgeship in Kansas.
The committee’s vote Thursday was 19-1 on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Holly Lou Teeter of Lenexa. The 38-year-old Teeter is an assistant U.S. attorney for western Missouri and previously clerked for two federal judges in the Kansas City area.
The committee’s action sends Teeter’s nomination to the full Senate.
Holly is an outstanding candidate to serve as a district court judge in our state. Pleased she passed out of the Judiciary Committee with strong bipartisan support. https://t.co/C6IeAZHzDm
The vote came two days after an American Bar Association committee rated Teeter as “not qualified.” An ABA publication said its committee generally believes a nominee should have at least 12 years of legal experience. Teeter has 11.5 years of experience.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called the standard “arbitrary.” The only no vote came from Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.
