Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess this morning reinstated the case against Charles Cullum, who is accused of shooting Rosann Kapaun nearly two years ago.
Cullum’s case had been taken off the docket last spring for him to undergo a mental evaluation. Cullum returned to court this morning after being determined competent to understand the charges against him and assist in his defense.
Kapaun, 43, was the niece of the Rev. Emil Kapaun, the man for whom Kapaun Mount Carmel High School in Wichita is named. Police say she was abducted from her apartment in west Wichita on May 16, 2007. She was shot and killed the next day. Her body was found in the 1600 block of East 46th Street South.
In October, two co-defendants were sentenced for participating in the killings of Kapaun and Chad Clayton.
Clayton, 26, was shot during a robbery at a house in the 6700 block of West O’Neil, six days after Kapaun’s kidnapping. Steven Cornelius received a 24-year prison sentence and Eric Huerta is serving 31 years for second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and other charges.
Cullum’s trial is tentatively set for next month.
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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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.
Turns out the man accused of trying to pick up a 14-year-old girl from school last month for sex also claimed to be carrying on psychic conversations with the teenager.
The girl told school officials she’d never seen Jesus Gallardo-Gonzalez before. But the 36-year-old man told police the girl had spoken to him through telepathy. He said she’d sent him a mental message to pick her up from Curtis Middle School and “had shared problems in her life with him while communicating psychically,” according to a police report.
His case is on hold pending a mental competency evaluation.