One year after a fatal crash that claimed the life of a Wamego man and his son, a jury trial is scheduled to begin early next year.
Mark Stanwix, 45, of Lecompton, was arraigned in July in Pottawatomie County District Court on two counts of involuntary manslaughter, three counts of aggravated battery and a single count of interference with law enforcement, for destruction of evidence. A motions hearing is scheduled for Dec. 21, with the case set to go to trial on Feb. 12.
Stanwix was behind the wheel of a Midwest Concrete Materials truck that rear-ended a pickup on August 10, 2022, east of Wamego. The crash claimed the life of a 37-year-old Wamego man and his 7-year-old son, and seriously injured the man’s wife and 2-year-old son. A St. Marys woman was also injured in the crash. A civil suit, filed by the two surviving women, alleges Stanwix was using his phone at the time of the crash.
According to Pottawatomie County Attorney Sherri Schuck, a number of factors have led to delays in scheduling a trial for the Stanwix case. Most notably is a transfer of venue case out of Shawnee County for Dana Chandler, accused in the 2002 murders of her ex-husband and his fiancee, which is slated to take up the October and November docket. Schuck says a trial for a case involving distribution causing death will take place in December.
