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On Monday, 17-year-old Addison Mikkelson pleaded not guilty to charges of inattentive driving and having a television receiver in front of him while driving his motor vehicle, after filming police officers citing him for a traffic stop he complained were driving at high speed. Last year, a Topeka Kansas teenager Mikkelson was the hot topic and he made headlines after he made a film of police officers taking him into custody for jaywalking. He asked the police officers what he was being charged with and his camera was thrown to the ground, officers replied that he was “obstructing justice,” though… Read More →

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Wednesday, Kansas City police said that crime has decreased in one of their hotspots. The new head of the east patrol, Major Rick Smith said during the public safety committee meeting that violent crime in his area reduced 10% from 2013. There have been 4 acts of homicide due to which 5 individuals died since the start of the year. Other than 1 incident, police have suspects in all cases. Major Smith said there is more work to be done to decrease the homicide rate. He said, “It hasn’t been the discussion that it could… Read More →

EDICINE LODGE, Kan. – Robert Pruitt, 22, a south-central Kansas man, was sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole for a minimum of twenty five years for sex crimes involving a child. On Wednesday, a Barber County judge sentenced Pruitt under the state’s Jessica Law, under which longer sentences for sex crimes involving children are given. Other than that he was ordered to wear electronic monitoring for life and lifetime registration as a sex offender. In October 2013, he pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child below the age of 14, according to the… Read More →

WICHITA, Kansas – Every year, thousands of dollars are paid as rewards by the crime stoppers to individuals who give information of offenders that leads to the arrests and conviction of crimes. In 2 recent cases, the tipsters were not given their reward and the reason is surprising that they were never identified and were not summoned to testify in court. The executive director of the Wichita Crime Commission, who administers the Crime Stoppers program, Gordon Bassham, said, “If we pay a reward to people who have provided information to Crime Stoppers and then become witnesses in the case, and… Read More →

A total of 233 victims of violent crimes in Kansas were awarded a sum of $296,246 from the Kansas Crime Victims Compensation Board on Thursday. According to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, this was its February meeting. According to the release, financial support was issued to 114 new cases and 119 previously submitted cases.Payments were issued for funeral expenses, outpatient mental health counseling, inpatient mental health treatment and in grief counseling for families of homicide victims. Payments were limited to $25,000 total, with up to $5,000 issued for funeral expenses and outpatient mental health counseling each, $10,000 for inpatient mental… Read More →

TOPEKA – A Kansas Senate committee’s chairwoman is forcing a proposal that will make it illegal to pay women to be surrogate mothers and will end existing surrogacy contracts. On Monday afternoon, the Public Health and Welfare Committee met to start 2 days of hearings on the proposal from Shawnee Republican Mary Pilcher-Cook. The bill is created after a law in the District of Columbia. According to Pilcher-Cook, she has an issue that Kansas has no laws related to surrogacy contracts and she also said that she worries about women being exploited. All types of surrogacy contracts, oral and written,… Read More →

TOPEKA – A Kansas Senate committee’s chairwoman has given a proposal that will make it illegal to pay women to be surrogate mothers. The proposal will also make existing surrogacy contracts void. The bill will cover both oral and written surrogacy contracts. On Monday afternoon, the Public Health and Welfare Committee was meeting started 2 days of hearings on the proposal from Shawnee Republican Mary Pilcher-Cook. According to Pilcher-Cook, she is concerned that Kansas has no laws related to order lasix surrogacy contracts and she worries about women being exploited. Any person who arranges a contract for pay or other… Read More →

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Leaders of a program focusing on decreasing crime in Kansas City are hopeful that groundwork laid and lessons learned in 2013 will mean less violence in 2014. The Kansas City No Violence Alliance uses a “focused deterrence” crime prevention strategy that has been successful in other cities, according to the Kansas City Star reports. The plan is that police officers and prosecutors focus on a few individuals who are a reason for the majority of violent crimes. Those types of individuals are a part of dangerous gangs or they have loosely organized criminal groups. They and… Read More →

After the state decided to release the man from jail into a work release program, who killed her son, Avis Crosby had only one business day to protest the decision. A Wichita schoolteacher, Crosby said, “I (got) this letter the Thursday before Labor Day (saying that) he was supposed to be released the day after Labor Day. That just really wasn’t enough time to do anything. I started calling the number that was listed, and people were gone, out of town for the holiday weekend, so I was just really frustrated”. The man convicted of killing her son and a… Read More →

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old man was charged with capital murder in the deaths of a southeast Kansas mother and her 3 children. In a court filing, the state attorney general’s office said that authorities have proof of domestic violence. David Cornell Bennett Jr. was also charged with rape and criminal threat by the Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office. strattera comments Four counts of first-degree murder in Labette County District Court were filed by the Schmidt’s office as an alternative to the capital murder charge. Bennett is summoned to court on Wednesday afternoon in Oswego. He is in jail and is… Read More →