• Jun 19, 2023

WICHITA – Chambers USA 2023 has ranked Dan Monnat, co-founder of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, among Kansas’ top litigators in the areas of White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations. His practice was cited particularly for work in healthcare and financial investigations. Chambers USA has placed Monnat among the state’s top-tier attorneys in this sector for 13 consecutive years.

“I’m deeply honored that our clients and fellow lawyers surveyed by Chambers continue to recognize the thought, action, courage and care that is at the core of this firm,” Monnat said. “I’ve been fortunate to be highly ranked by Chambers for more than a dozen years, and it is a true privilege each and every year.”

Monnat has practiced criminal law, white-collar criminal law and appellate law in Wichita and across Kansas for 47 years. Highly regarded by peers and clients alike, Monnat has been named one of Super Lawyers’ Top 10 Lawyers in Missouri and Kansas every year since 2018. A graduate of California State University, he received his J.D. from Creighton University School of Law. He also is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College.

A frequent editorial contributor on criminal defense topics, Monnat is co-author of “Sentencing, Probation, and Collateral Consequences,” a chapter of the Kansas Bar Association’s Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 5th edition.

Monnat has earned distinction as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, the American Bar Foundation, and the Kansas Bar Foundation. He currently sits on the Kansas Association of Trial Lawyers’ Board of Editors and contributes legal articles annually.

Monnat is a member of the National Trial Lawyers Association. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and lectures frequently at NACDL conferences and seminars nationwide.

  • Jun 05, 2023
  • KAKE TV
  • -
  • by Jackson Overstreet

WICHITA — “I therefore have no other choice but to declare a mistrial in this matter, as frustrating as that is for everyone involved,” those were the words of district court judge Tyler Roush back on April 26th during Javan Ervin’s first trial.

Due to a juror talking about facts of the case they learned from outside of the courtroom, Roush had to declare a mistrial, postponing the hearing.

On Monday, jury selection began for the retrial.

Wichita defense attorney Dan Monnat says with the case starting back up, he doesn’t expect jury selection to be any different than normal. A mistrial, like what happened in Ervin’s case, highlights just how important an impartial jury is.

“I don’t see what they can give to this case. A higher level of scrutiny than they already did? Because they ferreted out misconduct last time,” Monnat said. “Jury selection is extremely important in a criminal case. It is the vanguard of your sixth amendment Constitutional right to be tried only by an impartial jury. All here want to emphasize that much more the independent duty of each juror to police themselves, and make sure that they are not listening to any outside sources about the accusations here.”

Monnat says that because this is a higher profile case, it is imperative of the judge, prosecution and defense to hammer home the rules when it comes to looking up the case and he thinks they will.

A mistrial, like what happened in Ervin’s case, highlights just how important an impartial jury is. Ervin is on trial for first degree murder in the death of Samantha Russel. He is accused of hitting her car in a west Wichita intersection, killing her.

See full story at KAKE.com