A Rossville man faces an October fifth sentencing in Riley County District Court for vehicular homicide, after reportedly entering a plea of no contest. Derik Kesler, 33, had been slated for a September 22nd trial.
A preliminary hearing had been held in early August, with testimony from crime scene investigators, including one RCPD official who reported Kesler was “visibly shaken” and overcome with emotional distress during a later interview at the police station.
Manhattan bicyclist Mark Jilka, 49, suffered fatal injuries when Kesler struck him with his truck on June 26th, 2014, while traveling on Kansas Highway 177 south of Manhattan. As KMAN reported the day after the accident, RCPD Director Brad Schoen (shone) indicated Kesler might have been distracted by his cell phone. A Kansas Highway Patrol Report KMAN later obtained confirmed in Kesler’s witness statement that he was looking at an address he had put on the GPS on his phone and did not see the biker.
