Brett O’Dell is free on $25,000 bond awaiting arraignment October 6 before Judge R. Brent Elliott. He faces two counts of stealing and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
O’Dell is accused of stealing pills and cash from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s evidence vault. He appeared in court on Tuesday to waive his preliminary hearing.
Douglas Roberts is the special prosecutor in the case.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic candidate Chad Taylor has filed a petition with the Kansas Supreme Court to get his name removed from the Nov. 4 ballot in the U.S. Senate race.
Taylor filed his petition Tuesday, naming Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as the defendant. Kobach is the state’s chief elections officer and has refused to take Taylor’s name off the ballot even though Taylor has ended his campaign.
Taylor was a candidate against three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, but he announced last week he was ending his campaign in a move that boosted the chances of independent candidate Greg Orman.
Kobach ruled that Taylor failed to comply with state election laws by not stating in his withdrawal letter that he was incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Police in Olathe are seeking witnesses to a confrontation that left an officer with a broken leg.
The police department in the Kansas City suburb says officers responded to a call around 5 p.m. Monday about a man and woman involved in a disturbance at a park. Police say the man tried to leave the scene, then got into a fight with the officer who was injured.
The suspect was booked into the Johnson County Jail. The officer has been placed on medical leave.
Police said Tuesday they want to hear from anyone who saw the altercation.
DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House has voted to condemn President Barack Obama for failing to give 30-day notice to Congress about the exchange of American prisoner Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders.
The vote on Tuesday was 249-163 for the nonbinding resolution.
Democrats label the vote an election-year, partisan attack that is ill-timed considering Obama’s effort to rally support for combatting Islamic State militants.
Republicans insist that Obama clearly violated a law requiring the administration to notify Congress 30 days before transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison.
In May, five senior Taliban were released from the U.S. prison in exchange for Bergdahl, a soldier who disappeared from his post in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.
A Riverside man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for molesting an eight-year-old girl. Fentress Maurice Wilson, 50, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of statutory sodomy by a Platte County jury in June.
Wilson was sentenced to life because prosecutors proved that he had previously molested three other girls. Judge James Van Amburg ordered that the Defendant will not be eligible for parole until 2052.
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said, “The eight-year-old victim in this case showed unbelievable courage by telling the jury what the defendant did to her.
“But if we were allowed to tell the full truth about his decades of abusing other children, the defendant almost certainly would not have tried his luck with a jury.”
The trial was held in two stages. In the first, prosecutors proved Wilson had sexually abused the eight-year old girl. In the second, prosecutors proved the defendant was a predatory sexual offender because he had abused the child more than once and had abused more than one child. A little-used provision of Missouri law mandates a life sentence for predatory sexual offenders.
During the second stage of the trial, three more of the defendant’s victims testified and described sexual abuse dating back decades.
Although prosecutors knew about Wilson’s abuse of other victims, the jury was not allowed to know that Wilson had abused them until after he was found guilty. Under current Missouri law, prior acts of abuse can only be used to increase punishment after a defendant has been found guilty.
Zahnd chairs the committee pushing an amendment to Missouri’s Constitution that would allow juries to know that a defendant has committed offenses in the past. Constitutional Amendment 2 is on the ballot in November.
Missouri has some of the most restrictive laws on the admissibility of prior sex acts. The federal rules of evidence and most other states allow the evidence to be admitted subject to a judge’s review.
“It is vitally important to modernize Missouri law, and I hope voters will vote ‘yes’ for Amendment 2,” Zahnd said. “It’s not right to make children like this little girl go it alone against abusers like Fentress Wilson. Had he known the jury would have known from the beginning what he had done to other children, we might have spared her the trauma of testifying.”
JIM SALTER, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to halt the execution of a Missouri inmate, hours before he is scheduled to be put to death.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a stay of execution for Earl Ringo Jr., who faces lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing two people while robbing a Columbia restaurant in 1998.
It would be the eighth execution in Missouri this year and the 10th since November.
The appeal questioned Missouri’s use of the sedative midazolam prior to executions, claiming it could dull the inmate’s senses, leaving him potentially unable to express any pain.
Attorney Richard Sindel says he is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. A clemency petition is also before Gov. Jay Nixon.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri is preparing to execute a man convicted of killing two people while robbing a Columbia restaurant in 1998.
Earl Ringo Jr. is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Ringo would be the eighth person put to death in Missouri this year and the 10th since November.
Ringo’s attorneys have filed several court appeals to try to spare his life. One appeal questioned Missouri’s use of the sedative midazolam in the hours prior to executions, claiming it could dull the inmate’s senses to the point that he might not be able to express pain and suffering.
A clemency petition to Gov. Jay Nixon also cites concerns about the fact that Ringo, who is black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Officials at Fort Leavenworth are memorializing the late Missouri congressman Ike Skelton by renaming the northeast Kansas post’s library in his honor.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno is scheduled to speak Thursday morning at the naming ceremony for the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library.
Skelton, a Democrat, was elected 17 times to the U.S. House before losing in 2010 to Republican Vicky Hartzler in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. He chaired the House Armed Services Committee and was considered an astute military historian and a champion of the nation’s servicemen and women.
Skelton died last October at the age of 81.
The 320,000-volume library serves officers and civilians attending the Command and General Staff College and the Army Management Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Republicans are clashing again with Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on gun legislation.
A vote scheduled for Wednesday could overturn his veto of a bill allowing specially trained teachers to carry guns in school and other residents to openly carry firearms in cities.
A veto override requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers. Republicans control enough seats to make that happen, but they were unsuccessful last year in an attempt to override a more expansive gun measure that sought to nullify some federal gun control laws.
This year’s measure would allow people with concealed gun permits to openly carry firearms, even in cities that have ordinances against that.
It also would create a special training program for school personnel wanting to carry guns in their buildings.
Showers and thunderstorms will likely arrive in a couple of waves starting this afternoon across northern and west central Missouri and continuing through Wednesday morning. Some of the storms this afternoon and evening could become severe, producing damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado or two near the Iowa and Missouri border. In addition, the storms will likely produce some heavy rainfall with the heaviest rains most likely across northern Missouri where up to 2 inches of rain is likely. A cold front will arrive Wednesday morning and slide through the region allowing cooler and drier air to sweep in. We won’t feel the full effect of the cooling until Thursday as morning temperatures fall into the upper 40s and lower 50s. Highs on Thursday will struggle into the lower to middle 60s. Friday could be rather chilly as a weak system brings in clouds and light rain which could keep temperatures in the 50s. Saturday morning will be the coolest in a long time as temperatures bottom out in the upper 30s to middle 40s. Brrrrr!!!!
Tonight Showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could be severe. Low around 69. South southeast wind 13 to 18 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
Wednesday A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 71. Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph becoming north northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Wednesday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. North wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. North northeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47.
Friday A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Both sides in the gay marriage debate agree on one thing: It’s time for the Supreme Court to settle the matter.
Even a justice recently said she thinks so, too.
The emerging consensus makes it likely that the justices soon will agree to take up the question of whether the Constitution forbids states from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. A final ruling isn’t likely before June 2015, but a decision to get involved could come as soon as the end of this month.
Officials in five states in which marriage bans were struck down by federal courts have rushed their appeals to the Supreme Court. They’re trying to be in time for consideration by the justices when they meet in private on Sept. 29.
