U.S. Attorney for KC, Western Missouri Resigns
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tammy Dickinson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, has resigned. Dickinson is one of 46 U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration asked to resign Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Kansas City Star reports Dickinson's resignation was effective Friday at midnight. President Barack Obama appointed Dickinson, a former Jackson County prosecutor, to the office in January 2013. Tom Larson, a longtime assistant in the office, will be acting U.S. attorney for the district until President Donald Trump chooses a replacement.
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Hutchinson Man Pleads Guilty in Traffic Fatality
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A Hutchinson man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a collision that killed an 80-year-old man. 25-year-old Everette Hardy entered the plea Friday in the May 2016 death of John Johnson, also of Hutchinson. The Hutchinson News reports Johnson died in a Wichita hospital 23 days after the accident. A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper testified during a January 23rd preliminary hearing that Hardy accelerated seconds before reaching the intersection to try and beat oncoming traffic and slammed into Johnson's pickup at about 45 mph. Hardy will be sentenced April 21st.
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Escaped Kansas Inmate from Recaptured
RUSSELL, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement authorities say an inmate from the Russell County jail was free for about seven hours after escaping from the jail. The county sheriff's department says Jason Lesage escaped about 4 a.m. yesterday (SAT). He was recaptured about 11 a.m. Details of the arrest were not immediately released. The Hays Post reports a vehicle reported stolen in Russell was located yesterday (SAT) morning in the southeast part of Dorrance, about 20 miles east of Russell. The Kansas corrections department says Lesage has previous conviction for burglary, forgery, weapons and drugs.
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Missing Wichita Woman's Car Found, Body Inside
PARKVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police say a car pulled from the Missouri River belonged to a missing Wichita woman and a female body was inside the car. Captain Stacey Graves couldn't confirm the body discovered Friday evening was that of 20-year-old Toni Anderson, who's been missing since January 15th. But Graves said the car found in the river near Parkville was Anderson's. She said a medical examiner will positively identify the body and determine a cause of death. Police say Anderson, a student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was last seen after she left her job early January 15th. A police officer pulled her over for a traffic violation then watched Anderson drive to a nearby QuikTrip to get gas for her car. She was alone at the time.
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Kansas Supreme Court Rejects Tougher Rule in Self-defense Cases
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled in favor of two men who were charged with aggravated battery but said they were acting in self-defense in stabbing or shooting others. The high court's ruling Friday rejected a tougher rule for determining when someone can avoid prosecution under the state's 2006 "Stand Your Ground" law. The Kansas Court of Appeals had ruled in each case that when someone seeks to avoid prosecution on self-defense grounds, a trial-court judge must view evidence in the light most favorable for the prosecution in deciding whether a case goes to trial. The Supreme Court said the judge must weigh evidence impartially.
