Doyle Brant was scheduled for sentencing Thursday for his guilty plea to six felonies, but that hearing has been postponed until February 3.
Brant was accused of trying to hire a jail inmate for $2,000 to kill a woman he was accused of having sex with when she was younger than 17.
Brant’s daughter, Alesia Rivera, pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy commit murder and had agreed to testify against her father. She was sentenced last month to seven years in the Department of Corrections.
Join us for LIVE coverage of Sen. Moran’s town hall meeting from Salina.
The event will be held from 1:30 till 2:30 from the Visit Salina Annex of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.
(AP) – A lawsuit is challenging Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s order that the state accept jointly filed tax returns from same-sex couples legally married in other states.
Nixon said the directive applies to tax filing status and doesn’t authorize same-sex marriage. The Missouri Constitution states only marriages between a man and a woman are valid in the state.
The lawsuit asks Nixon’s order be declared unconstitutional. It was filed by officials from the Missouri Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission and the Missouri Family Policy Council.
Missouri’s tax code is tied to the federal code. Nixon said couples who file joint federal returns must file state taxes jointly. Federal officials determined legally married same-sex couples would be treated as married regardless of where they live.
A Nixon spokesman declined comment about the lawsuit.
TOPEKA (AP) — A 40-year-old Topeka man already facing a murder charge in a 2012 case has been charged with murder in a case from 2000.
Shawnee County court records show that Monroe Eugene Lockhart III was charged Thursday with a first-degree murder in the shooting death of 25-year-old Damon J. Anderson, Topeka, on Valentine’s Day 2000. The records didn’t list a lawyer for Lockhart in that new case.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reportsed Lockhart is incarcerated on a nearly 10-year sentence after he was convicted in 2013 in a violent home invasion.
Lockhart is also charged with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated arson in the 2012 death of Corey M. Brown, whose body was discovered in Douglas County.
(AP) — A northwest Missouri woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for beating her husband to death with a hammer.
Catherine Ashworth did not speak during sentencing Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty in November to manslaughter for killing her husband, 64-year-old Ronnie Ashworth Sr., in August of 2010.
She said that she hit her husband several times in the head with a hammer after they argued about infidelity.
Ashworth was charged with second-degree murder before accepting a plea deal.
(AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon says his appointment of a Missouri lawmaker to the state parole board was based on merit and not politics.
Several Republican senators have said they intend to block the confirmation of former House member Dennis Fowler to the parole board because Fowler helped sustain Nixon’s veto of an income tax bill last year. Some senators said the appointment looks like a political reward from Nixon.
Nixon said Thursday that such accusations are “blatantly false.” He said Fowler had a long law enforcement career and the appointment had nothing to do with any votes Fowler cast as a lawmaker.
Fowler resigned from the House to accept Nixon’s appointment last month. That left Republicans with 108 House seats – one shy of the two-thirds majority needed for veto overrides.
Buchanan County investigators say they have run out of leads in a sexual assault case and are again asking the public to examine pictures of the suspect.
Investigator Mike Wilkerson says at about 2 am on December 18, a black male broke into a home off South 22nd Street (371 highway) just south of the Saint Joseph city limits.
Wilkerson says the man sexually assaulted and robbed an adult female in the residence, but left when he heard neighbors upstairs moving around.
Detective Wilkerson says the man took cash and a debit card. That debit card was used a short time later at a gas station just north of the Iowa state line along I-29. The photographs were taken from video surveillance of the gas station.
Wilkerson says he’s in his 30s to 40s, stands about 5’2″ to 5’6″ tall, and has a medium build. He was wearing a black denim jacket, black rimmed glasses, and a red and blue sports cap.
If you can identify the man in the photograph you should call the TIPS hotline at (816)238-TIPS, or call Detective Mike Wilkerson at (816)236-8889.
(AP) – A man convicted of raping and murdering a 9-year-old southwest Missouri girl is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reduce his death penalty sentence to life without parole.
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on 38-year-old Christopher Collings’ appeal of his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence in the 2007 slaying of 9-year-old Rowan Ford. She was raped and killed after being taken from her home in Stella.
Collings’ attorney argued that that videotaped confessions Collings made to investigators should have been suppressed. They also contend Collings did not plan the girl’s death, a condition required for imposition of the death penalty.
Prosecutors contend Collings was read his rights before he confessed and evidence showed he planned to rape and kill Rowena.
SALINA (AP) — A man is planning to offer rides from Salina to Denver for people who want to buy legal marijuana.
Bart Allen says he hopes to drive a 12-passenger Mercedes van for Saturday overnight trips to Denver, beginning this weekend. He says his target customers will be people 45 or older who want to learn whether the drug could help them ease medical conditions.
The Salina Journal reported Allen said his passengers will tour at least one marijuana dispensary and grow site, and then enjoy a night out in Denver before returning on Sunday.
Allen said he thinks the $420 cost of the trip will deter recreational pot users from reserving a seat on his van.
(AP) – Prosecutors have dropped the main charge against two Saudi Arabian men accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in Springfield, prompting a judge to significantly reduce their combined $2 million bond.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of forcible sodomy against 21-year-old Rayan Mohammed A Alqabbaa, and 27-year-old Ahmed Ayed A Alanaz. The men are still charged with kidnapping and deviate sexual behavior after a woman reported they kidnapped her from a nightclub in June and took her to an apartment, where she says she was assaulted.
The men’s bail is now $100,000 each. The Saudi Arabian government paid the $2 million bail, and will receive a $1.8 million refund. The court also ruled the men ar
