An Ogden man has been bound over for an August 12th arraignment in a murder case involving his girlfriend’s six month old child. Michael Dechant, 19, had a preliminary hearing in Riley County district court Tuesday morning. Dominick Lubrano of Ogden died this past March at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The original case came in as an aggravated battery incident over a weekend, with Lubrano lifeflighted to Children’s Mercy from Mercy Regional Health Center, where he died three days later. Witnesses allege Dechant reportedly shook the baby, with serious head injuries resulting.
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas legislator who opposes capital punishment won’t get the study he wants of the costs of the death penalty. House Republican Steven Becker is a retired trial judge from Buhler. He has introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty statute and sought an audit of its costs. Kansas Public Radio reports the Legislative Post Audit Committee decided Tuesday against pursuing Becker’s request. The committee’s vice chair, Sen. Jeff Longbine, says there aren’t enough resources to approve all requested audits. But Longbine also says a death penalty audit could be considered in the future. Kansas has not…
ARGONIA, Kan. (AP) The school year could start later than planned in a south-central Kansas district after a powerful storm caused extensive damage to two buildings. KAKE-TV reports parts of the roofs were torn from the elementary school and the junior-senior high school in Argonia late Monday afternoon. Several homes in the Sumner County community also had roof damage. Argonia superintendent Julie Dolley says classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 21, but she’s not sure the cleanup can be finished by then. Parts of the ceilings at the schools caved in, allowing heavy rain to pour into the buildings. The…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Fire Marshal is drawing fire for his efforts to reinstate oversight of the explosive industry in the state. The fire marshal lost legal authority to issue permits to explosive industry operators in 2010, when an assistant attorney general mistakenly deleted the authority for the agency to do so. Temporary rules were imposed June 28. On Monday, Fire Marshal Doug Jorgensen told a Kansas legislative committee the problem could be permanently fixed by adopting the latest edition of the National Fire Protection Association’s explosive materials code. However, industry representatives told the committee the rules were too…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Former Sen. Bob Dole and the granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower have been named to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election team for 2014. The Republican governor announced Tuesday that Dole and Mary Jean Eisenhower will serve as co-chairmen of Brownback’s national campaign team. Mary Jean Eisenhower is the president of the Board of Directors for the People to People International, a humanitarian organization founded by her grandfather. Dole, who served in the Senate from 1969 until he resigned in 1996 for an unsuccessful run for president, celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday. Brownback and Lt. Gov.…
LARNED, Kan. (AP) A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to committing an Internet sex crime while he was confined as a sexual predator at the Larned State Hospital. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom’s office announced Monday that Mark David Brull, 38, and a co-defendant admitted victimizing a 14-year-old Massachusetts boy. Brull pleaded guilty to one count of the transfer of obscene materials to a minor. Prosecutors said Brull used a phone in a common area to call a service that let him to create an email with a voice recording attachment. His co-defendant, Ryan J. Dancosse, 40, of Wichita, uploaded pornographic…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A 20-year-old man will be sentenced in August after pleading no contest to an assault on a female student at a University of Kansas dormitory. Jeremy R. Ruzas was arrested in February after a 19-year-old Kansas student report she had been assaulted in her room at Oliver Hall. Prosecutors said Ruzas entered the woman’s room uninvited and was drinking before the woman’s friends made him leave. But he returned later and assaulted the woman while she was in bed. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Ruzas was initially charged with aggravated sexual battery and burglary but pleaded no…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal judge has delayed the resentencing of two Texas brothers convicted of running a Kansas hunting camp where hunters paid thousands of dollars to illegally shoot deer. U.S. District Judge Monti Belot postponed the sentencing of James and Marlin Butler from Aug. 28 to Sept. 23 following a hearing Monday. The Butlers, of Martinsville, Texas, ran Camp Lone Star near Coldwater. James Butler was sentenced in 2011 to 41 months in prison plus $50,000 in fines and restitution. His brother was sentenced to 27 months plus $20,000 in fines and restitution. A federal appeals court threw…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A youth tennis coach from western Missouri has admitted soliciting nude photos from a minor after telling the girl he found her sexually interesting. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Rex Haultain, 56, of Parkville, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., to one count of soliciting child pornography. A supervisor with an online high school contacted police in Overland Park, Kan., in August 2011 after the girl reported being sexually abused by her tennis coach. Haultain is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28. Both sides in the case have agreed to recommend he…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Emergency management officials from across Kansas are convening this week for a two-day summit on disaster preparedness. The conference opens Friday at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in Wichita. Sponsors include the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and the state Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Topics range from strategic planning and psychological first aid to managing volunteers and responding to human-caused tragedies. The summit is geared for emergency management and human services professionals, first responders, experts in animal health and nonprofit organizations.