A man accused of crashing his car through City Hall in January has been determined mentally competent to stand trial.
Marcus L. Johnson was pulled off the docket when Judge Eric Yost signed an order in February for a mental evaluation. Doctors determined Johnson is able to understand the charges and assist in his defense. His next hearing is set for May 12.
Wichita police said Johnson became enraged when a police officer asked him to turn down his car stereo in the parking lot of convenience store on Jan. 6. Police said Johnson then drove off and right through the entrance of City Hall. This is how Johnson appeared the first time before Yost:
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Lawmakers approved funding for two new judges positions in Sedgwick County District Court, which may make the ballot in time for the fall primary.
Timing is the key. The funding has passed the House and the Senate but has to go through an omnibus committee, which doesn’t meet until next month. The budget then needs to be approved by the Governor. To get on the ballot, the Kansas Supreme Court would have to certify the positions by April 15. Judges are hoping the Supreme Court could go ahead and certify the positions with a provision that the funding must pass.
Still, it’s a tight race to make the June 10 filing deadline to run for one of the new offices.
My wife sent this link to me today from the American Bar Association Journal:
“Women Lawyers Have Higher Divorce Rates, Need Loving Husbands, Researcher Says”
My wife is a lawyer.
Prosecutor Marc Bennett offered an unusual deal to Henry Nelson, a local photographer charged with having sex with an 8-year-old.
Bennett would accept a guilty plea to aggravated indecent liberties, reduced from rape, if Nelson would turn over his computer so authorities could search it without having to obtain a warrant. Bennett agreed not to charge him with extra crimes, but he could use anything he found to argue for a harsher sentence. Nelson complied.
The search turned up 30,000 sexually explicit photographs of minors — the most ever found in Wichita.
At sentencing today, Nelson’s lawyers asked for probation. After hearing about the child porn collection, Judge Joseph Bribiesca sent Nelson to prison.
A man who claimed he went to a school to pick up a 14-year-old girl for sex after she mentally communicated with him won’t be standing trial. Jesus Gallardo-Gonzalez has been found mentally incompetent.
This may not surprise people who read our post in January about his claim of telepathic communications. But it’s a surprise to his lawyer, because it’s rare for a defendant to be found mentally incompetent.
“It’s the first one I’ve had,” said public defender Pam McLemore.
Gallardo-Gonzalez was admitted to a mental hospital for treatment.