A teacher convicted of having sex with a student will try to get the law tossed out, saying the student was an adult and the sex shouldn’t be criminal. The teacher is 30 years old. The student was 18. And a state law makes sex between the two a felony. But the teacher’s lawyer says the law is unconstitutional and will fight to get it erased from the law books.

Attorneys for 30-year-old Charles Edwards are not fighting his firing from the Wichita School District. But they say his arrest on criminal charges is unconstitutional. Edwards taught vocal lessons at Northwest High School and had sex with an 18-year-old student.

Kansas law bans any sex between any kind of law enforcement officer and inmates. There’s also a clause saying it’s criminal if the offender is a teacher or a person in position of authority and the person with whom the offender is engaging in consensual sexual intercourse is a student enrolled at the school where the offender is employed. Edwards’ attorney says his client pleaded guilty to the charge so they could begin appealing the law.

“How far do we want the state to pry into our individual consensual sexual relationships?” said legal analyst Dan Monnat, who is not representing Edwards.
Monnat says Edwards may have a case against the constitutionality of the law.
A Supreme Court ruling declaring laws banning gay sex between consenting adults may apply to this case. Monnat says just because people may find a relationship inappropriate, doesn’t mean it should be against the law.

“There may be all kinds of consensual sexual relations that the public finds in bad taste, but does the public want to send those persons to prison?” he said.
Edwards will be sentenced on the conviction in May. His lawyer is expecting probation because of his client’s clean criminal record. The appeals process is expected to take about a year

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10 N 1358 (Newton, Kan., Mun. Ct. Jan. 27, 2011): Trial judge suppressed all evidence of driving under the influence of alcohol; criminal case dismissed with prejudice; driver’s-license suspension dismissed, and client’s driving privileges restored

A federal judge on Friday threw out an indictment against a Kansas tobacco wholesaler and business associates who were charged with trying to avoid paying $25 million in cigarette taxes to the state of Oklahoma and Indian tribes.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot in Wichita ruled that the defendants had met their burden in showing indictment against them was unconstitutionally vague and should be dismissed.

Belot also derided the government’s case — saying it was based on the government’s opinion and not on any federal, Kansas or Oklahoma statute.

The decision clears all charges against Gary Hall, the president and owner of Sunflower Supply Co. in Galena, along with seven other people. Also cleared were Discount Tobacco Warehouse Inc. of Joplin, Mo., and Rebel Industries Inc. of Galena.

Charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could seek another indictment. They also could appeal Belot’s decision, but the judge “strongly discouraged” prosecutors from seeking reconsideration.

“We will have to review his action and evaluate it,” said Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas.

Jim Pratt, one of the defense attorneys representing Hall, said they still were reviewing the decision and had no immediate comment.

The 43-count indictment filed in October 2008 included charges of conspiracy to divert cigarettes, mail and wire fraud, record-keeping violations of the Cigarette Trafficking Act, interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, transporting contraband cigarettes, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions. The government also had sought asset forfeiture.

The indictment alleged that from January 2005 through May 2007, the defendants defrauded the state of Oklahoma and Indian tribes that share revenue from cigarette taxes. Prosecutors contended Hall’s companies stamped cigarettes for sale at smoke shops in lower tax rate areas when they actually were sold at shops with higher tax rates.

Belot noted in his 43-page decision that the cigarettes had tax stamps and that records were made and maintained. Those records also were accurate, the judge said.

“The crimes charged are founded not upon facially-false entries on records but instead upon the government’s and its case agent’s opinion regarding what the records should have shown: the ‘ultimate destination’ of the cigarettes,” Belot wrote.

But such language was nowhere in any federal, Kansas or Oklahoma statute or regulation during the relevant period. Belot said “especially troubling to the court” was the government’s admission that it had decided the term “destination” really means “ultimate destination” — in other words, the place where the cigarettes were sold to the consumer — by its use of a dictionary definition.

Belot said the court had never encountered such an approach, saying it would mean that if the court allowed the jury to hear the agent’s opinion then it would have to instruct the jury on the government’s interpretation of a statute by inserting a dictionary definition.

The investigation started in 2006 after the Kansas Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle in Coffeyville that was allegedly carrying cigarettes worth more than $200,000 without appropriate tax stamps. Federal and state agents raided Sunflower and Rebel Industries in May 2007.

In October 2009, Belot also tossed much of the evidence after ruling that a Kansas Highway Patrol officer had no reason to suspect the driver of a U-Haul van that was found to be loaded with cigarettes was violating any laws, and the search was therefore illegal.

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

A judge said Wednesday that if prosecutors take Sam Holton to trial on double murder charges, they will do so without most of the evidence seized at his house — and his confession.

Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman ruled that Wichita police illegally entered Holton’s home in Mulvane to arrest him in connection with two killings last Thanksgiving.

In doing so, Kaufman said, detectives tainted any evidence they would later obtain, including Holton’s admission that he was involved in the shooting deaths of Adrian Jackson and Jessie Foust near Central and Hillside in Wichita.

Kaufman said detectives entered the Mulvane house without a warrant or consent of the residents and illegally arrested Holton, 18.

The judge suppressed property from the dead couple’s home found inside Holton’s house.

Kaufman also suppressed evidence police took from the house of Trevor Cox, 17, after Holton took detectives there. That includes the   murder weapon: a 9mm handgun retrieved from Cox’s  closet.

Kansas law states residents must give explicit permission to police before they enter a home, Kaufman said.

“They weren’t asked to come in, and they didn’t ask if they could come in,” Kaufman said.

Sal Intagliata, Holton’s lawyer, asked the judge to suppress the evidence during a hearing last week. Intagliata said that by entering the house without permission, Wichita police violated search and seizure protections under the Fourth  Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

After such a violation, all further evidence and statements become suspect. Courts have compared it to picking “fruit from a poisonous tree.”

Kaufman agreed.

Although the judge ruled Holton made a voluntary confession at police headquarters, and that police acted properly in interviewing him, the illegal entry made the subsequent statements inadmissible during trial.

Prosecutor Marc Bennett, however, still has statements made to police by Joshua Duque, 16, who is also charged with murder and robbery in the case. Duque has been ordered to stand trial as an adult.

Holton’s trial was set for next week, but Bennett said he will ask for a continuance to pursue his options.

But Bennett is left with little more from the house in Mulvane than a pair of Jackson’s earrings and a piece of paper listing other evidence from the dead couple’s house. Holton’s mother, who put together the list, gave those items to police  before they went inside.

Bennett had argued that Holton’s mother invited police into the house. But Rebecca Flagler testified at last week’s hearing that she did not give detectives permission to go inside.

Kaufman pointed out that while detectives said a supervisor told them they had consent to search the house, no one testified who it was that gave them permission.

Jackson, 26, and Foust, 25, were found dead by a family member on Thanksgiving 2009. Their children, ages 4 and 1, were unharmed and had apparently been left overnight with the bodies of their slain parents.

Holton and Duque gave police conflicting accounts of what happened, according to testimony from detectives in previous court hearings.

Detectives testified that Holton said he and Cox went to the house on North Chautauqua the night before Thanksgiving. Holton said Cox shot Jackson multiple times and then ordered Holton to shoot Foust to stop her screaming.

The same detectives said Duque told them he went to the house with Holton. Duque said he took a gun into the house but never fired it. Duque said he heard the gunshots from another room.

Cox pleaded guilty to aiding a felon and misdemeanor theft.

For story click here.

The Wichita Eagle – By Ron Sylvester

Dan Monnat has been named a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a prestigious invitation-only organization. Membership in IATL is by peer and judicial review, and limited to only 500 active trial lawyers in the United States, plus 100 Fellows from more than 30 countries worldwide.

The Academy honors only those who have achieved a career of excellence through superior skill in trial and appellate practice. Fellows must distinguish themselves by promoting the best interests of the justice system and exhibiting unimpeachable personal and professional character and integrity.

“One of the Academy’s missions is to honor and protect the American jury system and elevate the standards of integrity and civility in the legal profession and judiciary,” Monnat said. “I am honored to play a role in protecting our system of jurisprudence. I am also encouraged by the Academy’s China Program, which brings young Chinese lawyers to the U.S. to learn about our system of justice. These lawyers then return to China to develop legislative and economic infrastructure, helping that great country become a nation ruled by sound and predictable legal principles.”

You can drive a long way in Stanton County, Kan., and rarely see another soul. In tiny Johnson City, the county seat, the locals trade gossip at places like the County Fare Café or the aptly named Rinky Dink Drive Inn owned by Mary Hart. “It’s a very close community. Things can divide it and cause hard feelings. Things can draw it close together,” explained Hart.

It’s the kind of place that doesn’t welcome strangers easily. Deb Golub knows. She moved her family here from California after her husband died; her son, Mike, was 16. Johnson was her boyfriend, Jim’s, hometown, but it was all new to Deb. “We’re newcomers. We’ve been here since ’94. I’m an outsider. My son was an outsider,” Deb told “48 Hours Mystery” correspondent SusanSpencer.

Mike’s sister, Crissy, stayed in California, but made a point of being part of her brother’s life. “I remember him calling me… about falling out of relationships and likewise. I remember confiding in him. And he was so good about that. And I think that we really connected,” she said.
Initially, the local teens, like Danae Meurer, didn’t know quite what to make of the newcomer they nicknamed “California Mike.”

“At first, I just thought he was a smart-ass. I mean he was kind of full of himself and cocky and walked around tellin’ these stories that none of us believed,” Meurer said. “And then we asked his mom and found out that most of them were actually true… And it just grew on me. It didn’t take very long ’til you were laughing as hard as he was when he was telling the stories.” Shannon and Steve Morris soon realized that behind that cocky exterior was a heart of gold. “Mike would make you feel good about yourself,” Steve said. “Mike was a good guy. He’d give you the shirt off your back.”

“He was funny. We were best friends and stepbrothers and he was a very smart guy,” said Beau Hines, who also called Mike a hard worker. Mike was a skilled mechanic, who spent long hours repairing equipment for his boss, Eric Kramer. “…dependability was really good. Anything you put that kid to, he would figure it out, he was pretty good,” said Kramer.

In 1995, Mike met another outsider – a young woman named Shannon Albers, from Montana. From the start, Mike was smitten. “They seemed to get along very well at the beginning,” Deb said. “It was ‘Let’s go party, let’s go have fun…’ It was a fast and furious thing.” But the honeymoon didn’t last.

“The only time Shannon ever talked to me is when she wanted to complain about Mike. And that’s it,” said Shannon Morris. “Michael never made enough money. She always complained about money,” said Deb. “She’d make comments like ‘she has caviar taste on a hot dog budget,'” Hines said. “And she’d say that in front of all our friends.”

The one bright spot was the couple’s son, Mikey – his father’s pride and joy. Deb said her son was an excellent father. “”He loved his boy. He was just a natural-born dad.” But having Mikey didn’t save the relationship. At its lowest point, Shannon even called the cops, alleging that Mike had choked her. They arrested him.

“They had a fight,” Deb explained. “And he had his hand on her throat, holding her away fromhim.” The charges were later dropped, but Shannon soon moved out, taking Mikey with her. “He was in love with her and he was devastated when they split up,” Meurer said. “That was a hard time for him.”

Then, at the age of 24, Mike Golub had a heart attack – apparently the result of a genetic defect. It almost killed him. “After his heart attack, he got scared,” Meurer explained. “And he and I had a number of conversations that God had given him a second chance and that he needed to pay attention to that.”

Friends said that brush with death was a turning point. So was a new woman in his life, Brooke Wilkerson. “Young, fun – they went skydiving together… she brought out a lot of that life back to Mike,” said Meurer. In 2004, Mike and Brooke had a son, Kamryn. By all accounts, Mike Golub finally had grown up. His life was full.

“Mike turned into the young man that I would [have] been proud to call my son,” said Hart. “He was in love with Brooke and he loved his son, Cameron, very much and wanted to be the father that he never had,” said his sister, Crissy.

“They were really happy and Mike was talking marriage, he was talking [about] proposing to her,” added Meurer. Mike’s former girlfriend, Shannon Albers, also had moved on and up. She married Chad Floyd, who happened to be from one of the richest and most powerful families in

Johnson. According to Hart, “Everybody knows the Floyds, whether it be through farming or setting around a coffee table at the local coffee shop.”

“Their name is so prominent here. They’re very huge in farming here. They’ve been here for years,” said Deb. When asked what the attraction was between Chad and Shannon Floyd, Shannon Morris replied, “It was money. Period. She’s a gold digger.”

She wasn’t out of Mike’s life; they still were fighting – now over Mikey. And now Chad was involved. Deb said Mike wanted more time with his son, but “Shannon and Chad weren’t willing to share.” Mike was only allowed to see Mikey every other weekend. And despite the bickering, the arrangement seemed to work – for awhile.

But on May 20, 2005, Mike Golub drove away from work a little before 6 p.m. to pick up his son. He’s not been seen since. “And as soon as Steve got off the phone with Beau and told me he was missing, the very first thing I said was, ‘You don’t think Shannon did something to him?'” Shannon Morris told Spencer. “That’s the very first thing I said.”

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 CBS News – By Alec Sirken


Prominent Wichita attorney Dan Monnat is lashing out against CBS News for a “48 Hours” feature about two of his clients.
Monnat defended Chad and Shannon Floyd of Johnson, Kansas, in two trials related to the disappearance of Shannon’s ex-boyfriend, with whom she was arguing over custody of their child. CBS aired a one-hour special on the case of Michael Golub’s disappearance that ended with two hung juries. Chad Floyd comes from one of the wealthiest families in Stanton County, which has a population of fewer than 2,500. Monnat accuses CBS of trying his innocent clients on a show that was inflammatory and incomplete. Prosecutors say they won’t refile charges against the couple unless new evidence surfaces.

Marc LaVoie