PRATT – A 46-year-old Turon man was convicted Monday of attempted murder in the second degree of a law enforcement officer.

Bradley Grant Verstraete was found guilty by a Pratt County jury of attempted murder in the second degree of Pratt Police Officer Kenneth Wright. Verstraete also was found guilty of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer concerning Pratt Police Sergeant James Ferbert.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Pratt County District Court.

The crimes in Pratt County were committed in January 2015.

Verstraete is also well known in Reno County for crimes in the past. Back in 2011, he was found “not guilty” of crimes in Hutchinson because the jury believed he suffered mental illness when he threatened law enforcement officers with a machete. He was sentenced by Judge Trish Rose for a previous conviction to 21-months for felony battery of a law enforcement officer, but also ordered time served because he has been in custody in the case since February of 2009.

Verstraete was found guilty by a jury on a single count, but couldn’t reach a verdict on the assault charges. The state decided they would retry him on those assault charges and so it was decided to wait for sentencing on that single count until they knew outcome in the second trial. The jury found him not guilty because of mental illness.