WICHITA, Kansas – A drug abuse assessment form may become one of the factors that determines which welfare recipients will have to take a drug test to receive benefits. But how the test is administered may mean a person could be giving up Constitutional rights just to feed her or his family, says KSN Legal Expert Dan Monnat…
Wichita defense lawyer Dan Monnat says entrapment involves two elements: law enforcement inducing someone to commit a crime, and the person having no predisposition to commit the crime….“The defense of entrapment reflects the sound public policy that it is unconscionable for government officers to ensnare the innocent and law-abiding into the commission of crime,” Monnat said. Entrapment exists when the criminal idea originates with government agents instead of the accused and when the accused is persuaded by the officers to commit the crime, he said.
WICHITA, Kan. — Terry Lee Loewen made national news when he tried to blow up his car on the tarmac at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport. Court papers show Loewen reached out to people he thought were Al Qaida….But those people were really FBI agents. Attorneys say entrapment defense likely on tap for Loewen. “For there to be entrapment, two ingredients are necessary,” said Dan Monnat, KSNW Legal Analyst. “One, government inducement. Two, no predisposition by the accused to commit the crime…”
Though not representing alleged terrorist Terry Lee Loewen, Dan Monnat’s prominence as a Kansas defense attorney has made him a sought-after source for news media covering the case. In this AP story distributed worldwide, Monnat says the 21-page criminal complaint against Loewen doesn’t contain enough information to find his guilt or evidence of FBI entrapment. But he questioned the FBI’s tactics.
“I wanted to lend whatever boldness and artistic talent I had to those less able to stand up and fight for themselves. Whether you justify that by the Tao, the Sermon on the Mount or the United States Constitution, that’s a good thing to do. All power and authority need someone to question it…”
For the ninth consecutive year, Dan Monnat has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Kansas and Missouri by the magazine, “Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers – 2013.” Only 5 percent of all attorneys in Missouri and Kansas are included in Super Lawyers, making selection to the Top 100 the most elite of this exclusive legal group.
WICHITA — A motions hearing will determine whether or not the identity of a Crime Stoppers tipster can be revealed for the trial of an accused murderer…. “The problem with every informant is, what is their motivation? Is it to work off their own case? Their own crime?” asks criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat. He says if the anonymous information is in the possession of the prosecutor, the prosecutor may have a duty…
“There was no warrant. There was no consent, and the state had wholly failed to demonstrate emergency circumstances excusing the need to get a search warrant,” said Attorney Dan Monnat.
Dan Monnat, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, was inducted into the American Board of Criminal Lawyers at ABCL’s annual meeting in Atlanta last week. Monnat is the first Kansas attorney to be selected for the ABCL, whose members include lawyers in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
For the second time, Best Lawyers has named Dan Monnat, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, a Wichita Lawyer of the Year. In 2012, Monnat earned the distinction specifically for his white-collar criminal defense work. This year, Monnat has been recognized for his success in other criminal cases as the 2014 Wichita Criminal Defense: Non-White-Collar Lawyer of the Year.
