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Chaos erupts, 2 arrested during execution of 70-year-old inmate

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Chaos erupted outside Texas’ death chamber Thursday night when the son of the condemned inmate pounded on the chamber windows, shouted obscenities and threw fists after his father spoke his final words.

Coble -photo Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Billie Wayne Coble, a Vietnam War veteran who killed his estranged wife’s parents and brother and threated to do the same to her in 1989, told the five witnesses he selected to attend his execution that he loved them. Coble nodded at them as they watched from the witness room, adding: “Take care.”

When he finished speaking, his son, a friend and a daughter-in-law became emotional, throwing fists and kicking at others in the death chamber witness area. Officers stepped in but the witnesses continued to resist, and were eventually moved to a courtyard where the two men were handcuffed. They were arrested on charges of resisting an officer.

“Why are you doing this?” the woman asked. “They just killed his daddy.”

As the men were being subdued outside, a single dose of pentobarbital was being administered to Coble. He gasped several times and began snoring inside the death chamber at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later, at 6:24 p.m.

The 70-year-old Coble was the oldest inmate executed by Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. He was convicted three decades ago for the August 1989 shooting deaths of Robert and Zelda Vicha, and their son, Bobby Vicha, at separate homes in Axtell, which is northeast of Waco.

Prosecutors once described Coble as having “a heart full of scorpions.”

Coble, distraught over his pending divorce, kidnapped his wife, Karen Vicha. He was arrested and later freed on bond. Nine days after the kidnapping, Coble went to her home, where he handcuffed and tied up her three daughters and nephew, J.R. Vicha, according to investigators.

Coble then went to the homes of Robert and Zelda Vicha, 64 and 60 respectively, and Bobby Vicha, 39, who lived nearby, and fatally shot them.

After Karen Vicha returned home, Coble abducted her. He drove away, assaulted her and threatened to rape and kill her. He was arrested after wrecking the vehicle in neighboring Bosque County following a police chase.

Coble was convicted of capital murder in 1990. An appeals court ordered a new trial on punishment in 2007, but a second jury also sentenced him to death.

J.R. Vicha, Bobby Vicha’s son, was 11 when he was tied up and threatened by Coble during the killings. Coble’s execution would be a relief knowing the execution finally took place, said Vicha, who eventually became a prosecutor in part because of his father.

“Still, the way they do it is more humane than what he did to my family. It’s not what he deserves, but it will be good to know we got as much justice as allowed by the law,” he said ahead of the execution.

“This is not a happy night,” added McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson. “This is the end of a horror story for the Vicha family.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Coble’s request to delay his execution. His attorneys had argued that Coble’s original trial lawyers were negligent for conceding his guilt by failing to present an insanity defense.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also turned down his request for a commutation.

Coble’s attorney, A. Richard Ellis, told the courts that Coble suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his time as a Marine during the Vietnam War. Ellis argued that Coble was convicted in part because of misleading testimony from two prosecution expert witnesses on whether he would be a future danger.

Coble was the third inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the second in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.

J.R. Vicha, 40, still lives in the Waco area. His father was a police sergeant in Waco when he was killed, while his grandfather was a retired plumber and his grandmother worked for a foot doctor.

Vicha is working to get a portion of a highway near his home renamed in honor of his father.

“Every time I run into somebody that knew (his father and grandparents), it’s a good feeling. And when I hear stories about them, it still makes it feel like they’re kinda still here,” Vicha said.

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Halfway point: Kan. lawmakers struggle over school aid, Medicaid, taxes

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have hit the halfway point of their annual session and they haven’t had a hearing on a Medicaid expansion plan or pushed an education funding bill out of committee in the face of a court mandate to boost spending on public schools.

And the GOP-dominated Legislature doesn’t just appear to be slow-walking new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s big initiatives. Despite Republican supermajorities, an income tax relief bill that GOP leaders consider an urgent priorityhasn’t cleared both chambers.

Top Republicans began a long weekend Thursday by arguing that lawmakers’ annual 90-or-so-day session is not unusually sluggish and that committees have laid a foundation for key debates in March and early April. But the first big votes on a wide range of big issues — including school funding, Medicaid expansion and even abortion — aren’t coming until after the second half starts next week.

The lack of movement on school funding raises the most questions about whether lawmakers are dawdling too much. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last year that funding isn’t sufficient, and the state must tell the court by April 15 how it fixed the problem. The Republican attorney general urged lawmakers to pass a bill by March 15; Kelly called on them to do it by Thursday.

“I don’t know that I’m happy with the amount of work we’ve done,” said state Sen. Randall Hardy, a moderate Republican from central Kansas. “I would have preferred to see school finance dealt with already. I would have liked to have had a discussion about Medicaid expansion.”

Kelly took office last month promising a bipartisan governing style , joining new Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin in breaking the GOP’s lock on their state governments. Her supporters believe voters repudiated her GOP predecessors’ conservative fiscal policies and want quick action to help schools and expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy.

Yet the new governor seemed destined to clash with top Republicans. The Legislature emerged from last year’s elections more conservative, and GOP leaders are a formidable obstacle to Medicaid expansion and other Kelly initiatives. Republican leaders’ top priority is seeing that individuals and businesses don’t pay more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017.

Kansas legislators typically don’t start making decisions about the state budget even in committee until March, and the final decisions on the biggest issues often get crammed into a frenetic week in May or occasionally even early June. Also, the Legislature is still far from its record 114-day sessions in 2015 and 2017, when taxes and school funding also were big issues.

“All the big stuff is still out there but, you know, that’s what the second half is for,” said House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.

But educators and some legislators, particularly Democrats, are restless about school funding because Kansas is stuck in the last stage of a lawsuit filed in 2010 by four local school districts. A Democratic effort to short-circuit the committee process failed this week in the Senate.

“It’s disappointing that the Legislature is not demonstrating urgency to meet the court deadline,” Kelly said in a statement Thursday. “It’s time for legislative leaders to put politics aside and focus on meeting the needs of our students and teachers.”

Republican leaders said a school funding bill is coming soon, and a Senate committee has a hearing set for next week on Kelly’s plan to boost education funding by roughly $90 million a year.

The Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings in recent years to force lawmakers to increase spending. A law enacted last year will phase in a $548 million increase in aid to the state’s 286 school districts by the 2022-23 school year.

The court declared it still isn’t sufficient to provide a suitable education for every child because the law didn’t properly account for inflation in recent years. Mark Desetti, a lobbyist for the state’s largest teachers’ union, said the fix is “within easy reach.”

“Just put in the additional amount of money for the inflation factor and you’re done in court,” Desetti said.

But Republican leaders contend it’s not that simple. For one thing, they question whether the state can sustain the extra spending over time without increasing taxes.

Several also said they also want to consider whether the extra dollars should be targeted to programs for at-risk students. Others contend that the state should strive to hold schools accountable by making data about students’ performance more accessible to parents.

Meanwhile, Republicans face their own frustrations with the tax relief bill. The Senate passed the measure three weeks ago, with all but two of the 28 Republicans supporting it.

Before approving it this week, a House committee added a politically popular provision to decrease the state’s sales tax on groceries. GOP leaders considered having the full House debate the bill within days, but opted to wait, acknowledging that they need to get a better handle on members’ views.

“We wanted to provide tax certainty for Kansans, because they’re filing their income taxes right now,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican. “I am disappointed that they haven’t seen it as a priority.”

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Police arrest 3 suspects after gunshots that damaged Kansas home

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have three suspects in custody.

Flores-photo Sedgwick Co.
Gonzales -photo Sedgwick County

Just after  1 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a check shots call in the 1700 block of south Waco in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson. Upon arrival, officers contacted a 21-year-old man and 24-year-old woman who live in the block.

Both reported hearing gunshots, finding damage to their residence and seeing a gray Chevy Silverado leaving the area.

Officers quickly responded, observed a gray Silverado in the area and stopped the truck at Harry and Mead, according to Davidson.

Rodriguez-Leal- photo Sedgwick Co.

Police contacted 31-year-old Juan Rodriguez-Leal, 29-year-old Jairo Gonzales  and 37-year-old Daniel Flores, all of Wichita.

All three individuals were taken into custody without incident and booked into jail.

Officers located two handguns and shell casings in the vehicle. Shell casings were also located in the street on Waco.

Rodriguez-Leal was booked on charges of criminal discharge of a firearm and possession of a firearm under the influence.

Gonzales was booked on charges of driving with a suspended license and criminal discharge of a firearm. Flores was booked on a charge of criminal discharge of a firearm. There were no injuries, according to Davidson.

 

One person hospitalized after Kansas house fire

MANHATTAN —One person was injured in a fire Thursday in Manhattan.

Crews at the scene of Thursday’s fire in Manhattan- photo courtesy Manhattan Fire Dept.

Just before 4:30p.m., crews to the fire at a home in the 400 Block of South 16th Street, according to a media release. Upon arrival they found smoke coming from the back of the residence.

Crews extinguished the blaze in approximately five minutes. Riley County EMS transported one person  to Via Christi for possible smoke inhalation.

Damage to the residence is estimated at $5,500. Cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Fraud trial: Former Kan. lawmaker defends how he spent campaign funds

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas legislator accused of fraudulently taking $10,500 from campaign funds for his personal use told jurors Thursday that the payments were legitimate campaign expenses.

Michael O’Donnell-photo Sedgwick Co.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell took the stand to defend himself in his federal trial on 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns.

“It is offensive to me and outrageous to me that anybody would assume I would steal money,” he testified.

A federal indictment alleges a scheme whereby O’Donnell allegedly wrote a series of checks in 2015 and 2016 from his “Michael for Kansas” and “Michael for Sedgwick County” campaigns to various people who would cash the checks. Prosecutors alleged some of the money went into his personal checking account and some went to friends.

But O’Donnell contended the payments were made to staffers who worked on his campaign and helped him with his official government duties. To make his point he said his campaign still owes him $3,618 for unreimbursed mileage that he could write a check for to himself if he wanted.

“I am not in public service to make money, but I do have legitimate debts that are owed to me by my campaigns,” he said.

O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.

He repeatedly insisted the checks he wrote were “all legal under Kansas law” — drawing at one point a wry remark from Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith during cross examination that O’Donnell could append that comment to all his answers. The judge rebuked the prosecutor for the comment.

O’Donnell detailed for hours his payments to staffers, including some which he claimed were bonuses and retainers to friends who worked for him.

But prosecutors grilled him on checks made out to people who had testified earlier in the trial that they either did no work for the campaign or who were not actually working at events such as ball games as O’Donnell had claimed. He said some games were part of his official duties because he was invited to them by the university and had meetings with school officials later.

At one point he tried to explain a friend’s testimony that he was not working by saying that his staffer “didn’t realize what he was doing is work, I should have explained it better… I saw value in having a staffer there.”

Taxi driver sentenced for fatal DUI crash that killed Kansas man

 Fatal 2017 crash photo courtesy WHO Radio

POLK COUNTY Iowa – A cab driver convicted of vehicular homicide for a crash that killed one Kansas man and injured another has been sentenced to 17-years in prison.

According to the Polk County Attorney the sentence for 31-year-old  Mohamed Diriye of Des Moines, includes 10-years for vehicular homicide by reckless driving, 5-years for serious injury by reckless driving and 2-years for 0perating a vehicle while intoxicated. This was his second OWI conviction, according to the county attorney.

The crash occurred shortly before 4 a.m. January 19, 2017 when the cab ran off a road into a ravine.

Diriye -photo Polk Co.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reported 49-year-old Shawn Koltiska, of Augusta, Kansas, died in the crash. Another passenger 48-year-old Joseph Foster, of Garden Plain, Kansas was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Diriye was also treated and released.

Suspect in deadly shooting of Kan. woman released from jail again

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Charges have been dropped against one of the suspects in the deadly shooting of a Topeka woman.

McCoy-photo Shawnee County

Thirty-year-old Justin Lee McCoy was released Wednesday. He had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Patricia Sanders, whose body was found last May in her Topeka home.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced Thursday that new information was turned over that requires more investigation. He noted the charges were dismissed in such a way that they could be filed again.

It’s the second time McCoy has been freed. He and another suspect, 27-year-old Rahnel Erik Rayford, were released previously after a judge found there wasn’t probable cause to hold them. A grand jury then indicted them. Rayford is set to be tried next month on a murder charge.

Kansas teen sentenced for exchange of stolen gun at school

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A teenager involved in the exchange of a stolen handgun on Lawrence High School grounds has been sentenced to six months of probation.

The teenager was sentenced Wednesday in a closed hearing for criminal use of a weapon.

Court documents say another teenager had stolen the gun from his father Sept. 9 and provided it to the other teenager the next day.

The teen who was sentenced Wednesday was originally charged with felony theft for obtaining control of a stolen gun. Court documents show he pleaded no contest to criminal use of a weapon, a misdemeanor.

The other teen is charged with felony theft after allegedly stealing the gun from his father. His case is pending.

The gun was recovered off campus.

KHP: 1 dead, 1 hospitalized after semi collides with El Camino

GREENWOOD COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after noon Thursday in Greenwood County

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1968 Chevy El Camino driven by Terrence Joseph Lucas, 53, Eucha, OK., was northbound on Kansas 99 three miles east of Eureka.

The driver failed to yield at the intersection of U.S. 54. An eastbound semi driven by Dusty Lane Booth, 64, Eureka, struck the Chevy.

Lucas and Booth were transported to the Greenwood County Hospital where Lucas died. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Filing: Schlitterbahn water park has offseason cash-flow shortage

A promotional photo of Schlitterbahn’s waterpark in Kansas City, posted on the company’s website.
courtesy SCHLITTERBAHN

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A public filing says a Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated has cash flow troubles.

EPR Properties said Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it agreed to advance Schlitterbahn additional amounts under the mortgage, which has an outstanding balance of nearly $180 million. The report noted an off-season shortfall and the cost of legal issues. It was released almost one week after a judge dismissed criminal charges stemming from Caleb Schwab’s 2016 death.

It’s unclear whether Schlitterbahn has received advances in previous off-seasons. EPR’s annual report from a year agomade no mention of advancing money.

Schlitterbahn hasn’t announced plans for the park in 2019. EPR and Schlitterbahn officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Police make second arrest in fatal Kan. health club parking lot shooting

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have made a second arrest.

Mora -photo Sedgwick Co.
Bledsoe -from an earlier arrest in Crawford Co.

Just after 8:30p.m. February 6, police were dispatched to a shooting call at the Genesis Health Club parking lot in the 3700 Block of East 13th Street North, according to officer Paul Cruz.

A citizen discovered an injured victim and provided aid until EMS arrived. EMS pronounced the victim dead just before 9p.m., according to Cruz.

Investigators determined the victim identified as 22-year-old Lorenzo Wade of Wichita died from several gunshot wounds.

On Wednesday night police arrested  20-year-old Ashantis Bledsoe and booked him on requested charges of first degree criminal homicide, according to Police Captain Brent Allred.

Police believe drugs were involved and that the suspects and victim were known to each other.

On Tuesday night, police arrested 25-year-old Tanner Mora on a charge of first-degree murder, according Allred.  They are the only two suspects believed to have been involved.  Police were expected to present the case to the  district attorney Thursday afternoon.

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SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have made an arrest.

Just after 8:30p.m. February 6, police were dispatched to a shooting call at the Genesis Health Club parking lot in the 3700 Block of East 13th Street North, according to officer Paul Cruz.

A citizen discovered an injured victim and provided aid until EMS arrived. EMS pronounced the victim dead just before 9p.m., according to Cruz.

Investigators determined the victim identified as 22-year-old Lorenzo Wade of Wichita died from several gunshot wounds

Police on the scene of the shooting investigation -photo courtesy KWCH

On Tuesday night, police arrested 25-year-old Tanner Mora on a charge of first-degree , according to police captain Brent Allred.  Authorities are expected to interview others in connection with the shooting as they continue their investigation, according to Allred.

Kansas prison health contractor piling up penalties for poor performance

Corizon Health, based in Tennessee, has a $68.8 million contract with Kansas to provide health care for state prisons. The company received reduced payments last year because it did not provide enough staff and did not meet compliance standards.
MICHAEL COGHLAN / CREATIVE COMMONS-FLICKR

The company hired to provide health care in Kansas prisons is getting paid millions less than its contracted amount after failing to meet the agreement’s terms.

State officials reduced payments to Corizon Health because the company failed to hire enough nurses and other health workers. Corizon lost additional money after audits found it fell short of performance standards for a range of medical services.

Now, the Kansas Department of Corrections says the contractor has one more year to look after the health of 10,000 people in its prisons.

The department’s executive finance director, Keith Bradshaw, told lawmakers this month that for now, his agency intends to renew its contract with Corizon for only a year — rather than the two-year option included in the original contract.

“If things continue to improve, we’ll go ahead and pick up that second year,” Bradshaw said. “If we continue to have issues, then we’ll look at doing a rebid.”

The state currently has a $68.8 million contract with Corizon. Kansas penalized the company $534,880 for not meeting performance standards in 2018.

The state also cut $2.82 million from its payments to Corizon because the company didn’t deliver an agreed-upon number of employees and work hours last year.

Documents provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections show thousands of hours of missing work each month, due to unfilled jobs for nurses, behavioral health professionals and other medical staff.

Corizon currently faces 22 federal lawsuits regarding the care it provides to people in Kansas prisons. Complaints include inmates being refused medication and care for conditions such as hepatitis C. The state first awarded a contract to the company in January 2014.

The University of Kansas Medical Center audits Corizon’s performance for the state corrections department. KU Med tracks medical services such as intake health assessments, sick calls and group therapy and passes the information to the department. The state can deduct money from its payments to Corizon if the company does not meet performance standards.

According to an agreement provided by the Department of Corrections, the state penalizes Corizon $100 per incident when the company falls below 90 percent compliance with any of its 12 performance standards.

That penalty increases if the company doesn’t fix the problem within six months. It goes up again if the company doesn’t meet compliance standards in subsequent months.

Specialty services — X-rays, dermatology, chemotherapy, and obstetric and gynecological services — are penalized at a higher rate.

If the company doesn’t meet 90 percent compliance for those services, the state imposes a penalty of $300 per instance, with higher penalties the longer the problems persist.

In 2018, KU Med audited nine out of 12 performance standards. Out of those nine standards, Corizon was found to be 100 percent compliant on only one: specialty services. The company’s compliance rates for the other standards were well below the threshold of 90 percent.

Mental health groups, defined as group therapy and workshops on topics such as anger and addiction, were found to be nearly 70 percent compliant. But other services that were audited, including sick calls, intake health assessments and chronic care for conditions like diabetes and HIV, were compliant at rates of less than 10 percent.

CREDIT KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

At a presentation at the Kansas Capitol this month, state officials said the audits reviewed a small sample of the total number of medical services and do not accurately represent the overall quality of inmate health care.

Bradshaw told lawmakers there were too few workers to conduct extensive evaluations for all 12 performance standards.

Much like its shortage of corrections officers, the state’s prisons also face a shortage of health care workers. It relies heavily on overtime and asking administrators to cover shifts.

Bradshaw said the state was having trouble hiring, despite offering signing bonuses of up to $7,000 for registered nurses and $10,000 for psychologists.

“Corizon is also facing the impact of low unemployment rates throughout the state,” he said, “as well as competition in the highly competitive health care industry.”

Documents provided by the Department of Corrections show that wages for nurses, psychologists and other health professionals working in Kansas prisons are similar to average and entry-level wages for those jobs throughout the state.

Registered nurses working for Corizon in Kansas make $25 an hour. On average, registered nurses in Kansas make an hourly wage of $28. Corizon pays dental assistants $15 an hour, while statewide average pay for the same job is $16.86 an hour. Behavioral health professionals working for Kansas prisons make $24 an hour, while average hourly wages for various mental health and counseling jobs in Kansas range between $16 and $24 an hour.

Registered nurses and behavioral health professionals comprise half of all health-related job openings, Bradshaw said.

CREDIT KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Inmates’ health needs can also be time-consuming for corrections officers, who must accompany inmates to expensive off-site medical appointments in pairs. Bradshaw said those appointments often add to officers’ overtime shifts and to vehicle costs.

“With the small staff that we have and the size of this contract and the services being provided,” Bradshaw said, “it’s not realistic to expect every facility and every outcome to be looked at every month.”

Bradshaw said the state didn’t penalize Corizon for noncompliance from June 2017 to December 2017 because the state was moving inmates between facilities and didn’t want to blame the company for any performance issues during that period.

In an interview, he said a better measure of health care quality was the number of medical grievances filed by inmates.

“We’re actually seeing that trend going down, while at the same time the population’s going up,” he said. “I think we have to look at it more holistically.”

People incarcerated in Kansas prisons can file a written grievance with their prison’s warden if medical issues aren’t addressed within 10 days. If the issue is still not resolved, the next step is an appeal to the secretary of corrections, Roger Werholtz.

CREDIT NOMIN UJIYEDIIN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

David Tatarsky, director of health services at the Department of Corrections, said KU Med frequently fielded calls from inmates, their family members and prison staff.  He said those complaints and concerns informed where and when KU Med conducts audits of Corizon’s work.

Tatarsky told lawmakers that staff needed to be selective.  “We look for trends. We try to get the most bang for our buck,” he said.  “We try and focus where we think the need is greatest.”

In an emailed statement, Corizon spokeswoman Eve Hutcherson said the company was evaluating information from the state.

“We take all requirements very seriously in our mission to provide exceptional care to the patients we serve as the DOC’s partner,” she said. “Corizon remains committed as a strong partner with Kansas Department of Corrections and the patients we serve.”

Nomin Ujiyediin is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @NominUJ.

AP source: Harper, Phillies agree to record $330M, 13-year deal

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK — Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a $330 million, 13-year contract, the largest deal in baseball history, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Thursday because the agreement is subject to a successful physical.

A 26-year-old All-Star outfielder who had spent his entire big league career with the Washington Nationals, Harper topped the $325 million, 13-year agreement outfielder Giancarlo Stanton reached before the 2015 season with the Miami Marlins.

Harper’s agreement, first reported by the MLB Network, tops the previous high for a free agent, set last week when infielder Manny Machado signed a $300 million, 10-year deal with the San Diego Padres. Harper’s average annual value of $25.4 million ranks 14th in baseball history, well below the high of $34.1 million set by Arizona pitcher Zack Greinke as part of a $206.5 million, six-year contract that started in 2016.

Harper gets a $20 million signing bonus, a $10 million salary this year, $26 million in each of the following nine seasons and $22 million in each of the last three years. None of the money is deferred, and he gets a full no-trade provision.

Philadelphia has been among the most active teams this offseason, adding outfielder Andrew McCutchen for $50 million over three years and reliever David Robertson for $23 million over two years, and acquiring catcher J.T. Realmuto and shortstop Jean Segura. They also gave ace Aaron Nola a $45 million, four-year deal.

After leading their division in early August, the Phillies went 16-33 over the final 49 games of last season and at 80-82 finished with a losing record for the sixth straight season. Harper will return to his old home in the season’s second week, when the Phillies play at the NL East rival Nationals on April 2 and 3.

San Francisco and the Los Angeles Dodgers had also pursued Harper in recent weeks.

Harper has been an All-Star in six of seven big league seasons and was the unanimous winner of the 2015 NL MVP award.

An up-and-down defender and an unusual mix of popular and polarizing, Harper is known for the occasional contretemps with opponents, one particular exchange with a reporter about a “clown question,” and, most infamously, a dugout dustup in which he was choked by then-teammate Jonathan Papelbon during a game.

Washington took him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft and called him up to the majors less than two years later at age 19. He would go on to become the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year for a Nationals club that won its first division title and made its postseason debut.

Harper was also an integral part of the team that added NL East titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017 and never finished lower than second place in his seven seasons. Another key stat, though: The Nationals never won a playoff series in that span.

His best year was 2015, when at age 22 he hit .330 with 42 homers, 99 RBIs, 118 runs and 124 walks, amassing an OPS of 1.109.

Last year, he hit 34 homers and produced a career-high 100 RBIs while walking 130 times, although his batting average dipped to .249. He started more than a third of his games in center field instead of his usual spot in right, because of injuries to teammates.

With Washington’s Nationals Park hosting the 2018 All-Star Game, Harper stole the show the day before the Midsummer Classic by winning the Home Run Derby before an ecstatic crowd filled with folks wearing his No. 34 Nationals jersey. Harper wore a headband with the D.C. flag’s design, reflecting his oft-stated pride in playing for Washington.

But that eventually ran its course. The Nationals made an offer toward the end of last season — a $300 million, 10-year contract that was no longer on the table after free agency opened without an agreement.
A year after going 82-80 and missing the playoffs under rookie manager Dave Martinez, the Nationals will move forward without Harper.

Washington general manager Mike Rizzo would have loved to keep Harper in his team’s lineup but didn’t sit around and wait to find out whether that would happen. Instead, Rizzo spent such money elsewhere, adding lefty starter Patrick Corbin on a $140 million deal and righty starter Anibal Sanchez, along with second baseman Brian Dozier, a pair of catchers in Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki and two key bullpen pieces in Trevor Rosenthal and Kyle Barraclough.

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