TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man whose murder charge was dismissed under the state’s Stand Your Ground law will now face prosecution in the stabbing death of a 22-year-old woman, the Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court overturned a decision by a district judge who dismissed second-degree murder and other charges against Seth Collins, 38, in the April 2016 stabbing death of Kayla Brown. The two had been fighting over a parking space at a Wichita apartment complex.

The appeals court ruled Friday that a jury, not a judge, should decide whether Collins’ actions were justified.

The Stand Your Ground law allows people to use deadly force if they reasonably believe it’s necessary to protect themselves from death or great bodily harm.

The confrontation began when Collins tried to park at the apartment building but couldn’t because a car next to the space had its door open and Shayla Brown, who is Kayla Brown’s twin sister, was standing in the space talking to a friend, Luz Toral.

“It was disputed whether Collins politely asked Shayla to move so that he could park his car in that space. What was undisputed was that Collins and Shayla got into a verbal argument that included an exchange of racial and other insults,” the appeals court said.

Collins and the three women, their mother and another friend, eventually got into a physical confrontation. Collins returned to his apartment but went back outside to retrieve his eyeglasses, and got into another fight with the twins and their mother. During that dispute, Collins pulled a 4-inch pocketknife on the women, prompting Shayla Brown to grab Collins’ shirt, causing all four to tumble down steps. As they fell, Collins lashed out with his knife, injuring Shayla Brown in the arm and inflicting a fatal stab wound on Kayla Brown’s neck, according to the court’s ruling.

The appellate judges ruled that Sedgwick County District Judge John Kisner had incorrectly applied the Stand Your Ground law in dismissing charges against Collins and also gave too much weight to Collins’ testimony that he was afraid of suffering great bodily harm.

“In our view, the State met its burden (to justify taking the case to trial) because a reasonable person — given the district court’s assessment of the conflicting evidence — could have concluded Collins’ acts were not justified,” the court ruling said. “Collins’ claim of self-defense is, therefore, appropriately left for a jury to decide.”

 

SHAWNEE COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and have released security camera images of the suspect.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a report of shots fired Wednesday and have one suspect in custody. Police arrested Dakota Bunting, 19, Salina, according to police captain Paul Forrester.

He is being held for marijuana possession and other drug charges, according to the Saline County Jail booking report. The search for a second suspect continues and Bunting is not cooperating with the investigation, according to Forrester.

Just after 4:30p.m. Tuesday, a uniformed Saline County Deputy was washing his marked patrol vehicle at the car wash located at Broadway and State Street in Salina, according to a media release from police.

The deputy heard gunshots to the east of his location. The deputy ran to the sounds of the gunfire and ordered one of the suspects to the ground. The deputy did not fire any rounds at the subjects. The other individual involved in this incident fled the scene in a silver midsize passenger car, westbound on State Street. This vehicle is further described as having a shattered or spider-webbed left rear window. The first three characters of the Kansas license plate are possibly 649 or 049.

The other involved individual is described as a white male in his twenties. The occupant(s) of the vehicle should be considered armed and dangerous, according to police.

Neither the Saline County Deputy nor the suspect that was taken into custody were injured. It is unknown if the occupant(s) of the silver vehicle was injured.

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SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have one suspect in custody.

Just after 4:30p.m. Tuesday, a uniformed Saline County Deputy was washing his marked patrol vehicle at the car wash located at Broadway and State Street in Salina, according to a media release from police.

The deputy heard gunshots to the east of his location. The deputy ran to the sounds of the gunfire and ordered one of the suspects to the ground. The deputy did not fire any rounds at the subjects. The other individual involved in this incident fled the scene in a silver midsize passenger car, westbound on State Street. This vehicle is further described as having a shattered or spider-webbed left rear window. The first three characters of the Kansas license plate are possibly 649 or 049.

The other involved individual is described as a white male in his twenties. The occupant(s) of the vehicle should be considered armed and dangerous.

Neither the Saline County Deputy nor the suspect that was taken into custody were injured. It is unknown if the occupant(s) of the silver vehicle was injured.

 

By JIM MCLEAN

A contract dispute that could disrupt the health care of more than 400,000 Kansans enrolled in the state’s privatized Medicaid program has landed in court.

Amerigroup, one of three companies that since 2013 has managed the delivery of care to low-income, elderly and disabled through KanCare, is contesting a recent decision by state officials to replace it with Aetna when new contracts take effect in January.

The Virginia-based company filed a lawsuit Friday in Shawnee County District Court requesting the new contracts be set aside. It is also wants the court to order the state to rebid the contracts. Such an order would likely force the state to seek federal approval to extend the current program for at least another year.

The company is alleging that state officials involved in the contracting process ignored directives from the Legislature. Specifically, directives aimed at curtailing Gov. Jeff Colyer’s plan to make significant changes to the program as part of his KanCare 2.0 initiative, including adding a work requirement and a lifetime benefits cap.

“We obviously strongly believe that the agencies acted inappropriately and outside their authority by not following the direction of the Legislature,” said Frank Klepper, CEO of Amerigroup Kansas.

Amerigroup included in its court filing copies of email exchanges between the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the state procurement office that indicated officials knew about but ignored legislation requiring them to make changes in the request for proposals used in the contracting process.

The officials, the lawsuit says, “failed to follow procedure required by law and executed unauthorized contracts … that exceeded their legal authority.”

Jon Hamdorf, the KDHE official in charge of KanCare, said in an email that he couldn’t respond to specific allegations in the lawsuit because the agency hadn’t been served with a copy.

As a general defense, he said all the companies that bid on the new contracts were treated equally.

“All bidders were evaluated on the same criteria,” Hamdorf said. “We consistently conveyed the same (information) to all parties throughout the process.”

The problem, Amerigroup contends in the lawsuit, is that the agency used the wrong criteria. It awarded contracts based on bids submitted for KanCare 2.0 instead of making the changes to the RFP demanded by lawmakers and allowing companies to revise their bids accordingly.

In addition, the company is claiming that KDHE finalized the new contracts before notifying all bidders of its intention to award them, a violation of state procurement rules.

Amerigroup’s lawsuit requests an emergency order because, the company says, uncertainty about whether it will continue as a KanCare MCO is hindering its ability to provide care to its approximately 125,000 Kansas members. Key staff are leaving for more secure jobs and providers are requiring that Amerigroup members switch to a new plan in anticipation of the announced changes.

“The potential health impact from this significant disruption to our membership is quite frankly extremely troubling to me,” Klepper said. “We have members with very vulnerable medical conditions who now have to go through this process essentially because the agency didn’t do what the Legislature told them to do.”

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.