SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal beating in a Kansas grocery store parking lot and have made an arrest.

Just after 2a.m. Wednesday. Police responded to a disturbance in the Dillons parking lot in the 2200 Block of North Rock Road, according to officer Charley Davidson.

At the scene, officers located a man unconscious and with critical injuries. The victim identified as 33-year-old Haley Collins was transported to an area hospital.
Investigators have learned that Collins and a suspect identified as 35-year-old Steven Speakman were involved in a disagreement, according to Davidson. Speakman battered Collins during the dispute. On Thursday, Collins died.

Police arrested Speakman at the scene of the fight for aggravated battery. He is now being held without bond on a requested charge of first-degree murder.

This is the 21st criminal homicide this year in Wichita, according to Davidson.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Friday released a list of 19 clerics who Bishop James Johnston Jr. said had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of children against them.

Of the 19 clerics named, 13 have died, two have been removed from ministry, and four have been laicized, or removed from the clerical state. One of the laicized clerics, Shawn Ratigan, is serving 50 years in federal prison after being convicted in 2013 of producing or attempting to produce child pornography.

Johnston said in a statement that he hoped releasing the names would help the victims heal.

“The dreadful scourge of sexual abuse of minors has wounded our entire family of faith,” Johnston said. “As shepherd of our local church, I must do all in my power to eradicate this sin, heal those who have been harmed, and bring to justice those who have offended.”

The diocese also released the names of 11 clerics in other categories. Three had substantiated allegations while in the diocese but are now under the control of other dioceses; two religious-order priests have been removed from ministry; three former diocesan priests were found “unsuitable for ministry out of concern for the safety of our youth;” and three clergy are part of legal settlements but their cases have not been substantiated in court or by the church.

Johnston said the findings came after independent investigators with Fidelity Consultants reviewed the diocese’s records. With the exception of Ratigan, all of the allegations occurred before 1990 and the firm found no clerics currently serving in the diocese with substantiated allegations against them, he said.

The list has been turned over to the Missouri attorney general’s office, which is investigating clergy sex abuse in the state’s four dioceses.

David Clohessy, former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese had no excuse of hiding abusers’ names for any length of time.

“So while this may seem like a step forward, it is at best a partial disclosure forced on the Bishop by pressure from parents, parishioners and the public,” the statement said. “It is a way of feigning ‘openness’ trying to diffuse legitimate anger, and turn attention back on the perpetrator priests and away from complicit church officials who have minimized and hidden these cases.”

Johnston said any new information of clergy sexual abuse of minors will be updated if the allegations are substantiated.

“I renew my apology to any person who has been afflicted by acts of clergy sexual abuse, including family members,” the bishop wrote.

The Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese is the last of four dioceses in Missouri to release lists of accused clerics. The St. Louis Diocese named 61 clergy facing substantiated allegations in July. The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau identified three priests and the Diocese of Jefferson City listed 35 credibly accused priests or religious brothers.

Dioceses across the country began publicizing names of accused priests in the aftermath of a report issued in 2018 in Pennsylvania, which identified nearly 300 “predator priests” dating back seven decades and accused church leaders of covering up for the abusers.

TOPEKA, Kan. — In a decision published Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed Larry Laverne Toothman’s seven convictions in Saline County for committing sex crimes against his teenage niece.

According to court documents, Toothman was charged with 11 sex crimes committed between 2010 and 2012, however, a Saline County jury found him guilty of only seven counts.

Court documents noted that “Shortly after his conviction, Toothman moved for a new trial. He argued the district court erred when it failed to instruct the jury that criminal sodomy is a lesser included offense of aggravated criminal sodomy. He also claimed his convictions were multiplicitous because, on each count, the jury convicted him of both the primary charge and the alternative charge for the same sexual act.

“At a hearing on the motion, the district court and parties agreed that Toothman should only be sentenced for the primary offense on each count. So the court ruled that Toothman would be sentenced for the crimes of aggravated criminal sodomy and rape, and it set aside his convictions for criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and aggravated incest. The court also ruled that any failure to give a lesser included offense instruction on criminal sodomy did not impact the outcome of trial.”

Court documents show that on the day he was sentenced, Toothman gave a letter to his attorney telling her that he wanted to fire her “because she did not subpoena unspecified letters in his property at jail that would have helped his case.” According to court documents, this letter was not sent to the court, however at the sentencing hearing, the defense attorney showed the letter to the court and told the court of Toothman’s request for a new attorney. Additionally, the defense attorney told the court she was not aware of the letters Toothman referred to in his letter.

According to court documents, the Saline County District Court “denied Toothman’s request for new counsel and sentenced him to 653
months’ imprisonment and lifetime postrelease supervision.”

Toothman appealed his convictions. According to information from Friday’s Kansas Supreme Court ruling, “The Court of Appeals reversed one conviction for rape and one for aggravated criminal sodomy and remanded the case with directions to resentence Toothman for aggravated incest, a less severe offense, in their place. The Court of Appeals believed Toothman should be sentenced for aggravated incest because it was a more specific crime than rape or aggravated criminal sodomy, due to his familial relationship with the victim.

“In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Caleb Stegall, the Supreme Court held the Court of Appeals erred when it reversed Toothman’s convictions for rape and aggravated criminal sodomy. The Supreme Court explained that aggravated incest criminalized ‘otherwise lawful sexual intercourse or sodomy’ with a specified relative, but aggravated criminal sodomy and rape could never be ‘otherwise lawful.’ Thus, the Supreme Court held that aggravated incest is not a more specific crime than aggravated criminal sodomy or rape and affirmed Toothman’s seven convictions.”

FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and USD 457 officials are investigating a student involved in alleged knife attack.

On Tuesday, the staff at Charles Stones Intermediate Center 401 N Jennie Barker Road in Garden City asked police to investigate rumors of a knife being brought to the school, according to Senior Master Patrol Officer Robert Scrivner.

Through the course of the investigation, police learned two students were involved in a physical altercation  with one of the parties later making threats toward the other student.

Police also  learned one of the students had posted on social media a threat involving a knife made towards the other student.

The Garden City Police Department will file an affidavit with the Finney County Attorney’s Office requesting charges of Criminal Threat on one of the students involved in the altercation.

Fifth and sixth grade students attend Stone Intermediate Center.

Police encouraged parents to remind children to report any information about any school safety-related incidents to administrators, staff at school and or the Garden City Police Department.