The jury returned their verdict on lesser charges for Carlos Chavez-Aguilar, 22, who had gone on trial accused of second-degree intentional murder.

Second-degree unintentional murder is a reckless action taken with extreme disregard for human safety. Voluntary manslaughter is a sudden death occurring in the heat of passion.

Chavez-Aguilar is set for sentencing May 15 before Sedgwick County District Judge Joseph Bribiesca. Chavez-Aguilar’s lawyer, Brad Sylvester, said he plans to ask for a new trial, after raising objections to Bribiesca allowing gang testimony.

Police said a fight broke around 2 a.m. on Aug. 23 in the parking lot of the El Alacran Club at Harry and Seneca. An officer with the Wichita police gang unit testified that members of the Surenos 13, Vato Loco Boys and North Side Gangsters started the fight.

A pickup truck drove around the corner of the building and through the parking lot, killing Juan Martinez, 22, and Marilyn Arreola, 54. Carlos Chavez-Aguilar also was convicted of aggravated battery in the injury of a third person.

Rene Chavez-Aguilar, 20, charged with driving the truck, faces trial April 27.

(Note: Brad Sylvester and I are not related)

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.

Gloria Ibarra told police she stabbed Kevin Hadley in an argument over $35.

This morning, after hearing Wichita homicide detective Tim Relph recount his conversation with Ibarra, Sedgwick County District Judge Joseph Bribiesca granted a prosecutor’s request to change the charges against her from second-degree murder to first-degree premeditated murder.

Ibarra, 45, told Relph she went to Hadley’s house last Oct. 24 in the 1600 block of North Hydraulic to spend the night. She said he was supposed to have $35 to buy drugs, but he only had $5.

The couple did a shot of cocaine, Ibarra told Relph, then began to argue over the money.

Ibarra told Relph:

Hadley pulled the knife and stabbed her in the leg. But she grabbed the knife after he dropped it. She plunged it into his chest.

“You’re going to kill me,” Hadley yelled.

Ibarra chased Hadley into the kitchen, where he threw something at her. Hadley then ran into the bedroom and barricaded it with a heater.

When police arrived at about 3 a.m. Oct. 25, they found Hadley at a neighbor’s house, clutching his chest with three knife wounds. The 49-year-old died of his wounds later.

Ibarra called 911 about 30 minutes later from her home across town in the 1900 block of West Dora.

Relph said when he reading his rights to Ibarra, she interrupted him.

“Is he OK?” she asked.

“No,” Relph said.

“Is he dead?” she asked.

When Relph told her Hadley was, she fell out of her chair, crying.

Officer Bradley Harris said he followed a blood trail from the neighbor’s house, where he found Hadley, to a window outside the bedroom. When he entered Hadley’s home, he found the bedroom door partially opened and blocked by a heater. There were drops of blood in other parts of the apartment but pools and a blood-soaked T-shirt in the bedroom.

Deputy District Attorney Kevin O’Connor said that the evidence added up to Hadley being stabbed in the bedroom, not the living room. That means Ibarra would have had to push through the barrier made by the heater and into the bedroom to stab Hadley.

“That shows premeditation,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said Hadley broke the window in the bedroom to get to the neighbor’s house, trying to escape his assailant.

“There’s no evidence that this took place in the bedroom, or that it was even an intentional killing,” Ibarra’s public defender, Mark Rudy, argued.

Because it was a preliminary hearing, Bribiesca said he had to view the evidence in a light most favorable to the state in finding probable cause the crime was committed.

Bribiesca also acknowledged while it appeared Ibarra might have an argument for self-defense, that would be a decision left up to a jury.

Because O’Connor needed time to prepare the new charges, Ibarra is set to be arraigned as early as today.

Now Andrea, 20, is volunteering with Wichita’s chapter of Parents of Murdered Children. Andrea and her family said Parents of Murdered Children helped them through their difficulty navigating the court system as they waited more than two years and watched three defendants in the case of Chelsea’s killing at age 14. It ended just two weeks ago with the sentencing of Elgin Robinson.

This week, Andrea was in court with another family enduring a tragic loss: that of Kailee Hundley, the 13-month-old girl who died accidentally at day care. Jessica Cummings, the day care provider, was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter, as Andrea helped console Kailee’s family.

“I decided I wanted to give something back,” Andrea said. “Because Corinne helped me so much.”

There’s rarely a murder trial in Wichita where you won’t see Corinne Radke, who founded the local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children. She has been a steady shoulder for the tears of those who have lost loved ones, as she lost her son, to violence. I’ve even seen Corinne in trials where we were the only ones in the gallery: no family for either the victim or defendant.

If you want to volunteer for, or need help from, Parents of Murdered Children, call the local office at 316-265-1600.

Chad and Shannon Floyd have something to be thankful for next week: They won’t face murder charges.

The husband and wife are set to meet with a judge in Johnson City on Monday to sign a final order of dismissal in a murder case against them that’s dragged on for three years, through two trials that both ended without a verdict.

No one has ever found the body of Michael Golub, 27. Golub was a former boyfriend of Shannon Floyd and they were involved in a custody dispute over their son when Golub disappeared on May 20, 2005. The Floyds said he never showed up to get the boy that night. His pickup was found six days later on a county road in northwest Grant County.

Prosecutors Richard Guinn and Barry Disney for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office claimed Chad and Shannon Floyd shot Golub when he came to pick up his son. Prosecutors said the custody battle was interfering with plans for the Floyds to move to Montana. The couple purchased a gun that same day, and investigators found Golub’s blood had dripped between the planks on the Floyd’s front porch. Prosecutors said Chad Floyd had told a friend he’d pay Golub $50,000 to drop the case and said he wished Golub would disappear.

Lawyers Dan Monnat and Kurt Kerns of Wichita argued for the defense that there were people near the Floyds’ house that night who would have heard the gunshots — but didn’t — and that a different friend of theirs showed up unexpectedly when the killing was supposedly taking place.

They also suggested that Golub’s role as an informant in a local drug case led to his disappearance.

Adding to the rural courtroom drama: The Floyds are an affluent family that owns a chain of banks in the western part of Kansas and in eastern Colorado.

Under the terms of the dismissal, the state can file the charges again if prosecutors discover evidence that “materially strengthens” their case.

Judge Clark Owens said lawyers will try again next week, literally. A new trial has been set for Monday. That’s the same day as Jones’ murder trial is set to begin.

The court will decide Thursday whether either trial will proceed next week.

Now Buddy Jones is standing trial this week, accused of sexual exploitation of a child, while he awaits another trial on charges of first-degree murder.

The jury is expected to get the case today of eight photos found in his nightstand. Prosecutor Kevin O’Connor has had police and medical witnesses describe the photos, which they said were of a young girl with her genitals exposed.

Defense lawyer Brad Sylvester told the jury that the pictures belonged to Jones’ sister’s boyfriend, who also lived in the house.

Jones is also charged with first-degree murder in the disappearance of Michelle Rawls in July 2006. Jones was arrested and charged with her murder nine months later. Her body was never found.

When police were searching the house where Jones lived, they discovered the Polaroid photos of the girl, along with a Polaroid camera and pictures from a child porn Web site that showed another young female in similar poses. O’Connor said authorities have not been able to locate the girl in the pictures found at Jones’ house.

Kansas legislators enacted Magnum’s Law, or Scruffy’s Law, in 2006, when Apollo, a a four-month old Dachshund mix puppy, died of blunt force trauma. Witnesses said at a preliminary hearing in December that Eason threw the dog down the stairs.

Lawrence Williamson represents Eason; Aaron Smith is prosecuting. The trial is set to begin Monday before Judge Rebecca Pilshaw.

Also set for trial Monday is Tiffany Berry, charged with felony murder stemming from a home invasion robbery in which a man died.

Prosecutors say Miguel Moya was shot multiple times in a house at 104 E. Eighth St. and Keena Elam was injured in a robbery that netted just over $400 in cash.

Berry, 26, is the first of two defendants to go to trial. Michael E. Phillips, 26, remained at large in the Nov. 19 shooting until he was arrested after a traffic stop on July 6.

Richard Ney is defending Berry against prosecutor Margaret McIntire before Judge David Kaufman.

Sedgwick County public defender Mark Orr told jurors this morning that witnesses called into court this week will tell too many differing stories to find Jones guilty of first-degree murder.

But C.J. Rieg said that while party-goers scattered after seeing Keith Fritter Peters fatally shot just after midnight on Aug. 26, enough stuck around to give police a detailed description of the shooter. Enough details, Rieg said, to prove premeditation.

Following are excerpts from the opening statements Rieg and Orr gave to the jury this morning:

For the state:

For the defense:

Jones was 17 at the time he was accused of killing Keith “Fritter” Peters, 18, on Aug. 26, 2007, during a party in the 1600 block of East Fortuna. Police said Peters was shot to death when he tried to break up a fight.

The Fritter Foundation was established in Peters’ honor help steer young people to an alternative to street gangs.

Assistant Sedgwick County District Attorney C.J. Rieg is prosecuting. Public defender Mark Orr represents Jones, now 18. Ben Burgess is the judge.

A jury was seated today.