Prosecutors have charged 25-year-old Michael Tejeda with first-degree murder in the commission of a felony in the death of his one-year-old daughter due to gunfire. Criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat explains to KAKE News that the charge against the girl’s father is different from a typical murder charge. “In a felony murder situation, the need to prove a specific mental state is supplanted by evidence that the accused was committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing from an inherently dangerous felony….”

A Sedgwick County Sheriff’s detective allegedly mishandled cases in the Exploited and Missing Children and Internet Crimes Against Children units from 2019 to 2024. Defense attorney Dan Monnat explains what this might mean for child sex abuse or child abuse handled by that detective: “The two worst extremes from that are, one, real child predators or child abusers go uncharged and two, innocent people become wrongfully accused.” “The witnesses become harder and hard to find, and their memories become harder and harder to rely on….”

A federal judge in Kansas has tossed out a machine gun possession charge and questioned if bans on the weapons violate the Second Amendment. Defense attorney Dan Monnat tells KWCH TV that others charged with possession will try to use this ruling to their benefit. “I presume everybody accused of possessing machine guns will use this case as precedent to contend that the cases can’t be prosecuted….”

AUGUSTA, Kan. – Will two Augusta teens arrested in connection to the murder of a 93-year-old woman be tried as adults? Wichita attorney Dan Monnat tells KWCH TV that prosecutors will have to jump through a lot of hoops before that can happen, and a judge will have to find that the community will be better served by treating a child as an adult….

VALLEY CENTER, Kan. — The Valley Center police department will be wrapping up its investigation into the Valley Center boys’ varsity baseball team animal cruelty case in about a week, but it will be about a month before they’re able to meet with the DA’s office to consider charges. Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV there’s no rush for the DA to possibly make charges because there’s no threat to the public and the Valley Center Police Department said there’s no one in custody….

Even if the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration moves forward with reclassifying marijuana to make it considered a less serious drug, KSN Legal Analyst Dan Monnat points out this is only a reclassification by one part of the federal government, the DEA, and it’s not a done deal yet. He also says, “even if reclassified, this is not going to throw open the doors of the penitentiary….”

Following the death of George Floyd, Gabrielle Griffie organized a Wichita protest and was arrested on two counts of unlawful assembly for “noisy conduct.” The ACLU questions the city ordinance that led to Griffie’s arrest, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated. Criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat agrees, telling KWCH TV, “With a vague term like ‘noisy conduct’ that’s in the municipal ordinance, doesn’t that vague term threaten — even chill — your right of expression and free speech?’”