Celebrated Kansas defense attorney Richard Ney has died

When news spread of the death of Richard Ney – whose career of legal firsts included launching the Sedgwick County Public Defenders’ Office – Dan Monnat noted, “Richard really deserves recognition as a lion of the national criminal defense bar…. The fact that that vital of a person is no longer with us is just sad….”

Former Wichita elementary school teacher who dealt cocaine out of home gets probation

A former Wichita third-grade teacher caught dealing cocaine out of her kitchen won’t go to prison for now — but she will have to serve a 60-day jail sanction as a condition of her probation. In her mind, she was providing drugs to men so they would like her, and “truly believed the only way to keep these men in her life was to do what they asked — which was to obtain cocaine….”

Man gets just under six years in prison for 2015 double killing

A Sedgwick County judge last week sent a 23-year-old man to prison for just under six years for shooting three people he thought were trying to collect drug money from him. Ray’s defense attorney, Sal Intagliata… said Ray fired at the three men because he feared they were after him for money, drugs, revenge or his life… Prosecutors had asked the judge to order Ray serve about 4 1/2 years more time than he was given…

Former Halstead police chief enters no contest plea in theft case

Halstead’s former police chief entered a no contest plea Tuesday afternoon to two misdemeanors involving the theft of ammunition from the city. “After almost 38 years as a law enforcement officer, it is unfortunate that Mr. Lewis’ career concluded in this fashion,” attorney Sal Intagliata said. “But Mr. Lewis didn’t want continued media coverage on… his family…so he thought this was … the most appropriate way to resolve this.”

Wichita Police Chief hopes to open door wider for recruits

When Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay thinks about the men and women he’d like to see working for him one day, he doesn’t envision classes filled with cadets who have spotless pasts. That could include recruits who have crimes in their past. Dan Monnat, is encouraged “to see the top brass of the Wichita Police Department recognize that people deserve second chances…

Dan Monnat for the Supreme Court?

Merrick Garland hasn’t exactly had resounding support as President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, but Wichita’s Dan Monnat has had a nice plug for the job. The attorney’s former law professor, retired Creighton University professor Richard Shugrue, wrote an article about the selection process for Omaha’s Daily Record, a legal and business news publication. In it,…

Wichita murder case, child sex crimes allegations collide

WICHITA – A key witness in a pending child sex crimes case against a former Wichita police sergeant was charged with rape, sodomy and murder, raising questions about how each case might affect the other. “Nothing about the criminal justice system is black or white,” says defense attorney Dan Monnat…. “There is no category of crime or person beyond complexity or question, which is why we have to presume every accused person innocent and test all accusations by the highest standard of proof.”

Court Reverses Itself on Drug Tax Stamp Law in Kansas

A drug tax-stamp law that has been on the state’s books for more than 25 years lost some of its teeth when the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that a defendant who has been convicted of possession of marijuana can’t be convicted of possessing the same marijuana without a tax stamp. According to Dan Monnat, the Court’s rare reversal says “you can’t be convicted of both possession of a drug and possession of the same drug without a tax stamp.”

Kansas Supreme Court Reverses Convictions of Ex-Inman Police Chief

The Kansas Supreme Court, citing prosecutorial misconduct, has reversed child-sex-crimes convictions of a former Inman police chief and ordered that he get a new trial. Michael Adkins attorney, Dan Monnat, said, “Courtroom theatrics are not evidence…”