HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Reno County District Judge kept her word and gave a downward departure to a 19-year-old Hutchinson man convicted of second-degree murder.

Taylor Lukone entered a plea for the fatal 2017 hit-and-run accident that killed 51-year-old Jose Lopez who was riding a bicycle n 1200 Block of East 4th Street in Hutchinson. The vehicle fled the scene.

Lopez died 11 days after the incident at a Wichita hospital.

The state had requested a sentence of more than 13 years for the three charges, which included failing to stop at an accident and interference with law enforcement.

As part of the agreement, Lukone could not seek a departure sentence and both sides had agreed on a recommended sentence.

Judge Rose ruled that Lukone was barely 18 at the time of the crime, doesn’t have a substantial criminal history and accepted responsibility for his actions.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Davidson argued to the court that there are no substantial and compelling reasons to depart. Davidson said Lukone earned the 13-year sentence.

Defense Attorney Shannon Crane noted that Lukone had been evaluated and it was determined that he suffered from PTSD. She said Lukone was upset because Lopez had beaten his mother and was let out of jail. But, Lopez had entered a plea in the case against him and had yet to be sentenced.

Lukone told the court he takes responsibility for his actions and that he didn’t mean for it to happen.

Davidson says he will appeal the sentence handed down by Judge Rose.

JEFFERSON COUNTY (AP) — A dog found in a ditch with electrical and duct tape around his mouth and legs has been reunited with his owner.

Authorities believe the dog was in a ditch in cold temperatures for about 12 hours before a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy found him Saturday . He was dubbed “Jimmy” while he recovered.

The sheriff’s office said the dog — whose name is “Flick” — had “an emotional” reunion with his owner Friday and was headed home. An area funeral home paid for the dog’s care.

Jefferson County Sheriff Missouri Dave Marshak said Thursday 39-year-old Paul Garcia of Barnhart was charged with felony animal abuse and armed criminal action. Marshak says investigators believe Barnhart taped the dog and threw him out of a window. A motive hasn’t been disclosed.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated battery and asking the public for help to locate suspects.

Just before 4p.m. Thursday, police responded to a home in the 1800 Block of North Woodrow, according to officer Charley Davidson. A 47-year-old man told police that when he arrived home, he observed a black 4-door hatchback in a neighbor’s driveway.

An unknown male driver described as a white male with a beard and male passenger wearing shorts were attempting to take a television from the front porch of the home, according to Davidson.

As the 47-year-old approached the suspects, the vehicle ran over him as they drove from the scene southbound on Woodrow.

The victim was transported for treatment of non-life-threatening abrasions and lacerations.  The suspects did not get away with the television.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact police.

By JIM MCLEAN
Kansas News Service

Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran is one of several Republicans who expressed concern about President Donald Trump’s declaration Friday of a national emergency to fund construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Both Moran and fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts voted for a bipartisan appropriations bill, which prevented another partial shutdown of the federal government and passed the Senate 86-16. Democrat Sharice Davids was the only member of Kansas’ U.S. House delegation to support the measure, which passed 300-128 in the House.

We started these negotiations asking for 230 miles of border wall – Washington left us now with 55 miles. Any Kansan can tell you that’s not a compromise worth taking.

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) February 14, 2019

Moran told the Kansas News Service last month during the government shutdown over the wall funding that he shared Trump’s concerns about border security, but that he hoped the president wouldn’t use emergency powers to circumvent Congress.

“Throughout my time in the Congress, particularly in the Senate, I have complained about administrations taking more and more of what is constitutionally the responsibility of the United States Congress,” he said. “But I also complain that Congress allows it to happen.”

The 1976 law that gives the president authority to declare a national emergency also gives Congress the power to terminate the order.

On Friday, Trump signed the appropriations bill. The president then declared an emergency on Friday because the measure included only $1.3 billion of the $5.7 billion he wanted for the wall. Unless blocked by Congress or the courts, the declaration will allow the president to redirect money appropriated for the U.S. military and for disaster response.

In a statement, Davids called the bill a good compromise that “funds smart and effective security at our borders and many other important investments in our communities.” The congresswoman, who is serving her first term in the 3rd District seat she captured from Republican Kevin Yoder in November, also criticized the president’s emergency declaration as “dangerous to our democracy.”

The Republican House members from Kansas all opposed the funding bill.

“It is shameful that these negotiations failed to secure our border, so I understand and respect the president’s declaration (of a national emergency),” U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall said in a statement. Marshall, who represents the vast western Kansas 1st District, voted it down because it included only enough money to build 55 of the 230 miles of border wall sought by Trump.

“I’m fed up with it, and the more than 70 percent of Kansans in my district who want the wall built are sick and tired of the political games and dysfunction in Washington,” he said.

Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican from Wichita who oversees the 4th District, also said the lack of funding for the wall justified emergency declaration.

“Rather than President Trump needing to declare a national emergency to protect our country, Congress should have done its job to provide increased border security,” Estes said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins, a Topeka Republican serving his first term, ran as a “build the wall guy.” He said the funding bill doesn’t do what’s needed.

“Our border agents told us what it will require to secure our border and this is not it,” Watkins said on Twitter.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has three words for workers at the state’s most crowded maximum-security prison: “Please don’t quit.”

Kelly spoke to more than 100 employees at El Dorado Correctional Facility on Thursday, two days after the Kansas Department of Corrections declared an emergency there. She says to “Trust that we will work this out as fast as we can.”

The prison has 95 vacant staff positions while also housing 74 inmates over its limit. It’s had multiple inmate disturbances over the past two years. Several staff members raised issues of working long hours of overtime, sometimes with few breaks, and years of no pay raises.

Interim Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told prison employees that “What’s happening here right now is not sustainable.”