WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita man has been released from the Sedgwick County Jail after spending 4.5 years waiting for a trial in a sexual predator case.
Todd Ellison, 45, was supposed to go to trial next week to determine whether he should be held for life as a sexual predator.
Instead, District Judge Ben Burgess released Ellison Friday, saying his right to a speedy trial had been violated.
The Wichita Eagle reports Ellison completed a sentence for sexual crimes involving children from cases in 1996 and 1997. When he was about to be released in 2009, prosecutors filed a petition to argue that he might be determined to be a sexually violent predator.
Ellison fought the allegation since then, although he says the state also delayed hearings in the case.
