WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita amassed more homicides in 2018 than in any year since 1995, in part because of an increase in self-defense killings.

At least 43 people died by homicide in Wichita over the past year, up five from 2017. Police said the five-person increase can in part be attributed to self-defense killings, which increased by five, from three to eight.

Kansas is among numerous states where citizens have no legal obligation to retreat from an attacker if they are lawfully present in a place. Before the stand-your-ground law was approved in Kansas in 2007, a person couldn’t use force before trying, if there was a chance, to escape violence or retreat.

A homicide is justifiable in Kansas when a person “reasonably believes” that the use of deadly force is “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm” to that person or a third party.

In the past three years, Wichita police have worked five times as many justifiable homicides as during the first six and a half years of the stand-your-ground law, according to numbers provided by police. From 2006 to the middle of 2012, Wichita police worked three justifiable homicide cases, police said at the time. From 2016 to 2018, there were 15.

Nationally, police shootings account for the majority of justifiable homicides.

Prosecutors can’t file charges against someone in Kansas in a self-defense killing unless the state can establish — beyond a reasonable doubt — that a person didn’t act in self-defense, said Marc Bennett, Sedgwick County’s district attorney.

Prosecutors must first decide whether a person believed he or she had to act when using deadly force. Then, prosecutors consider if that person’s belief was sensible under the facts known to that person at the time of the killing.

Bennett said charges can be dropped if evidence doesn’t show beyond a reasonable doubt that a person acted in self-defense.

RENO COUNTY — Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fire in Hutchinson.

Just before 7a.m. Tuesday, the Hutchinson Fire Department responded to the 909 South Main Street East for a reported commercial structure fire, according to Fire Chief Steven Beer.

The structure was a commercial property that was used for a wood hobby shop and was unoccupied at the time the fire was reported.

It was being utilized for a New Year’s Eve party until 3:30a.m. Tuesday.

First arriving units found fire coming through the roof of the structure. Crews immediately called for a 2nd alarm which brought all fire units from Hutchinson to the scene.

Two elevated master streams were in operation during the height of the fire from Hutchinson’s truck companies. Numerous handlines were also deployed to assist in containment. One minute prior to the report of this fire, Hutchinson fire was dispatched for a report of an electrical fire in a residential structure.

Sub zero wind chills hampered fire operations with a broken hydrant, freezing water, slippery conditions, and wet gear for the firefighters.

Approximately 40 firefighters were utilized to bring the fire under control. The building of origin is considered a total loss; however, firefighters were able to save two structures to the north and south of the fire building.

Hutchinson Fire Department was assisted by Hutchinson Police Department, Reno County EMS, Kansas Gas, Westar, South Hutchinson Mobile Command, and Hutchinson Public Works.

FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and alleged rape have a suspect in custody.

Just after 11:30 a.m. December 18, police were called to the southeast area of Garden City for a reported residential burglary in progress. Upon arrival, officers went inside the residence and located an adult woman, according to Sergeant Lana Urteaga

The victim told police an unknown man entered her residence armed with a weapon. Once inside, the man sexually assaulted the woman and caused significant injury to her, according to police. The suspect then fled the area. The woman was transported to St. Catherine Hospital by Finney County EMS with non-life-threatening injuries.

Over the holiday weekend, police identified and located a suspect. They also were able to identify a vehicle likely used in the incident. A tip was received from a citizen who recognized the vehicle from a recent social media post by the Garden City Police Department. Officers received additional information as to where the driver and the vehicle were located.

On Monday, police confirmed 45-year-old Michael W. Couch is currently in custody in Sherman County on local charges. A warrant for $900,000.00 (cash or corporate surety bond) was issued Monday and he is awaiting transport to the Finney County Jail where he will be held until his court appearance on requested charges of Aggravated Burglary, Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Sodomy, Rape and Aggravated Battery, according to Urteaga.

 

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect following a weekend chase and crash in Shawnee County,

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1996 Mercury Mystique driven by Richard M. Fawcett, 38, Lawrence was fleeing from police westbound  at the intersection of Branner and Greeley in Topeka.

Due to high speeds, the driver failed to negotiate the curve at NE Seward and NE Branner and struck the concrete barrier wall.

One passenger Kristin M Delong, 31, Topeka, was transported to Stormont Vail with a serious injury, according to the KHP.

Another passenger Justin D. Brown, 28, Topeka, and Fawcett were not injured. They were arrested.  Brown was no longer in custody Monday.

Fawcett remains jailed on requested charges of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, driving while license suspended, speeding, improper driving on a laned road and failure to stop at an accident, according to the Shawnee County jail records.  He has a previous drug conviction in Douglas County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge ruled Monday that Kansas cannot stop telemedicine abortions, thwarting the latest attempt by state lawmakers to prevent doctors from providing pregnancy-ending pills to women they see by remote video conferences.

District Judge Franklin Theis ruled that a law barring telemedicine abortions and set to take effect in January has no legal force. During an earlier hearing, Theis derided the law as an “air ball” because of how lawmakers wrote it.

That law was challenged in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Trust Women Wichita, which operates a clinic that performs abortions and provides other health care services.

Theis also ruled that other, older parts of the state’s abortion laws that could ban telemedicine abortions are on hold indefinitely because of a separate lawsuit challenging them that’s still pending.

The Wichita clinic began offering telemedicine abortions in October because its doctors live outside Kansas and could be on site only two days a week. It also hopes to provide the pills to women in rural areas and have them confer by teleconference with doctors.

The center argues that banning telemedicine abortions violates the state constitution by placing an undue burden on women seeking abortions and singling out abortion for special treatment when state policies intend to encourage telemedicine. Kansas has no clinics that provide abortions outside Wichita and the Kansas City area.

“That procedure by telemedicine is going to be legal after midnight (Monday), and the clinic will continue to offer it,” said Bob Eye, one of the attorneys for Trust Women. “This is a good outcome.”

The anti-abortion group Kansans for Life, influential with the Republican-controlled Legislature, contends telemedicine abortions are dangerous. But a study of abortions in California, published in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ journal in 2015, said less than one-third of 1 percent of medication abortions resulted in major complications.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, called Theis’ ruling “infuriating.”

“This judge has a long history of taking laws designed by the Legislature to protect unborn babies and women and turning them into laws that instead protect the abortion industry,” Culp said.

Seventeen other states have telemedicine abortion bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a group that advocates for abortion rights.

The 2018 law represents the third time Kansas legislators passed a measure meant to outlaw telemedicine abortions.

In 2011, a ban was part of legislation imposing special regulations on abortion clinics that critics argued were meant to shut them down. Providers sued, and Theis blocked all of the regulations. The case is still pending.

Legislators passed another version of the telemedicine abortion ban in 2015, but Theis ruled Monday that it also is covered by his order blocking the 2011 clinic regulations. He called that 2011 injunction a “safe harbor” for the clinic.

The 2018 law says that in policies promoting telemedicine, “nothing” authorizes “any abortion procedure via telemedicine.” Theis concluded that it’s toothless because it does not give prosecutors a way to bring a criminal case over a violation. He said in his order Monday that it “has no anchor for operation” — essentially rendering the clinic’s lawsuit moot.

The Kansas health department has reported that in 2017, the latest data available, nearly 4,000 medication abortions were reported, or 58 percent of the state’s total, all in the first trimester. It’s not clear how many of them were telemedicine abortions.

While abortion opponents have a long list of legislative victories over the past decade, they’ve fared less well in the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear an appeal of lower federal court orders barring Kansas from stripping Medicaid funds for non-abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood.

The state’s first-in-the-nation ban on a common second trimester procedure anti-abortion lawmakers called “dismemberment abortion” has been on hold since 2015. In that case, the Kansas Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the state constitution protects abortion rights independently of the federal constitution — so that state courts could chart their own, more liberal course.

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TOPEKA – The holidays may be over, but one lucky Kansas Lottery player just received a belated gift from Santa in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing.

One ticket sold in south central Kansas matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball, to win $1,000,000!

The winning numbers in the Dec. 29 Powerball drawing were 12-42-51-53-62 Powerball of 25. The lucky winner has 365 days from the date of the draw to claim their prize.

No tickets matched all numbers in the Saturday Powerball drawing, so the jackpot for the Jan. 2 drawing has rolled to an estimated $53 million ($32 million cash option).

2018 saw us bid farewell to Laverne and the Bandit, the Queen of Soul and Mrs. Garrett. Newsday has compiled a list of the celebrities who died in 2018.

Click HERE to read more.

Salina Post

SALINA — A 22-year-old Salina man wanted in connection to an earlier domestic dispute was apprehended by police on foot after he tried to flee on a scooter late Sunday night.

Dario Lopez was arrested on suspicion of aggravated domestic battery, criminal threat, damage to property, theft, aggravated burglary, criminal trespass, felony interference with law enforcement, and criminal carrying of a weapon, Salina Police Sergeant Jim Feldman said Monday.

The arrest was made in connection to incidents in the 600 block of Huehl that were reported by a 20-year-old female on December 11 and Sunday, Feldman said.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting during an armed robbery have a teenager in custody.

Just after 2:45 p.m, Friday, police responded to a shooting at the B & H Fast Trip, 2796 S. Seneca in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Police located  a 16-year-old suspect with a gunshot wound. The investigation revealed three unknown male suspects including the 16-year-old suspect entered the store, pointed handguns at an employee and customers, demanding money.

The suspects took money and cigarettes. During the robbery, an armed 42-year-old male customer pulled out his firearm and fired multiple shots toward the suspects, striking the 16-year-old. The other three suspects fled the business. On Monday, police reported they have arrested a 17-year-old in connection with the robbery. He was booked into the Juvenile Detention Center on three counts of aggravated robbery, according to Davidson. Police are looking for two other known suspects.

In addition to the incident on South Seneca, police believe the suspects were were involved in an armed robbery at 12:10 p.m. on Friday at the Family Dollar Store, 936 S. Woodlawn in Wichita.  A 59-year-old female employee reported three unknown suspects entered the store, pointed handguns at her and demanded property. The suspects who then fled the business took money and cigarettes.

With American soldiers still locked in conflict abroad, the website Honor the Fallen continues to compile a list of the brave men and women who have dies to protect our freedoms.

The list of the soldiers who have fallen can be seen HERE, along with biographies for each of the soldiers.

SHAWNEE COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged kidnapping and a long list of additional charges.

Just after 11p.m Sunday, police responded to the Traveler’s Inn, 3846 SW Topeka Boulevard in Topeka on the report of a kidnapping, according to Lt. John Trimble. They were able to make contact with a witness to the incident who led them to the victim. He told police had he been approached by 36-year-old Joshua William Banfield, Sr. who brandished a handgun and ordered the victim into a truck. Banfield then drove the victim throughout the city and repeatedly struck him in the face with the handgun before bringing him back to the motel.

Officers were able to locate Banfield at the motel where he was taken into custody without incident. The investigation showed the truck that Banfield used was a stolen vehicle. The handgun used in this incident was also recovered. Banfield was also found to be a convicted felon which prohibits him from possessing a firearm.

He also had a felony Shawnee County Warrant for a Probation violation with the initial charge being possession of stolen property.

He was taken to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and booked in on requested charges of  Aggravated Battery,  Aggravated Assault, Kidnapping, Felon in Possession of a Firearm,  FelonyPossession of Stolen Property X2 and the Felony Warrant, according to Trimble.  Banfield has previous convictions for theft and drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.