TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court cleared the way for additional gay marriages in the state’s most populous county while declaring that it would defer to the federal courts on whether Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriages is constitutional. Legal Analyst Dan Monnat tells KSN News: ““The Kansas Supreme Court did hint that the Kansas laws against same-sex marriage are probably unconstitutional…”
WICHITA, Kansas – Many same-sex couples are eagerly awaiting the chance to get married. KSN’s legal analyst Dan Monnat says that while the State of Kansas appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will still go ahead, “Kansas officials must start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.”
WASHINGTON and WICHITA, Kansas (AP/KSN) — The U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday that same-sex marriages can go ahead in Kansas. The 7-2 ruling only overrules the stay on the federal court injunction blocking the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, while the case is awaiting hearing in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. “But while that decision proceeds, Kansas authorities must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,” legal analyst Dan Monnat said….
WICHITA, Kansas — As the debate over same-sex marriage continues in Kansas, the courtroom drama is getting more complicated…. The state filed the action against a Kansas 10th Judicial District Judge, when last month he granted a same-sex marriage license to a Johnson Co. couple, pointing to recent cases in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Utah that found gay marriage bans unconstitutional. Says legal analyst Dan Monnat, “It applies to the Kansas law the rulings of the 10th circuit on the Utah and Oklahoma laws because the Kansas law is virtually identical….”
WICHITA, Kan. – The foster father accused of leaving a 10-month-old child to die inside a hot car was charged on Wednesday in Sedgwick County Court with first-degree murder. KSN News asked legal expert Dan Monnat why he is being charged with first-degree murder instead of a lesser charge. “What they’re saying is that he recklessly caused the child to be placed in a situation where the child was endangered and regrettably that resulted in the death. Elevating what otherwise would be ‘aggravated child endangerment’ to first-degree murder,” said Monnat.
WICHITA, Kan. – The Kansas Supreme Court overturned the death sentences of the Carr brothers who were convicted of capital murder in a case involving robbery, rape and the fatal shooting of four people whose bodies were left in a snow-covered Wichita soccer field. “Superficially, it could be said that an error of the court has resulted in the reversal of the death sentences because the Carr brothers were tried together in the death penalty phase,” said KSN legal analyst Dan Monnat….
WINFIELD, Kan. – Some residents of Winfield are outraged that a convicted sex offender was allowed to go home before being sentenced to life in prison. “Is this person a danger to the community, or is he a risk of flight? It is entrusted to the wisdom of the individuals we elect and put in place as judges,” said Dan Monnat, KSN Legal Analyst…
“Power tends to corrupt and judges have enormous power,” said legal expert Dan Monnat, as a state judicial board finds a Sedgwick County judge has been sexually harassing female co-workers for years. “The (Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications) has now found by clear and convincing testimony that this judge did not follow the rules designed to be a check on his power….”
DODGE City, Kan. — Dodge City pastor Jerrold Wayne Ketner pled guilty to a single count of aggravated sexual battery as part of a plea agreement with the state that dropped six other felony charges, including rape and attempted rape. “Dr. Ketner has accepted responsibility,” Ketner’s attorney Sal Intagliata said, pointing out the number of supporters in the courtroom which he said have helped and will continue to help Ketner meet the conditions of his probation.
GARDEN CITY, Kansas – At least six Garden City teens could face charges for allegedly texting nude photos of a Garden City High School student when she was 13 years old. KSN Legal Analyst Dan Monnat says the case hinges on who possesses the photos with the criminal intent to transmit them and, most important, whether the photos were obtained by a warrant, per the recent Supreme Court ruling. “We have to ask a question this week that we wouldn’t have had to ask last week: ‘Did the law enforcement officers here acquire the images from the sexting telephones with a valid search warrant?’ If they didn’t, then the photos cannot be admitted into evidence, and probably, these individuals need to go free of being accused of any crime.”
