WICHITA, Kan. – A Sedgwick County judge is deciding whether an independent expert will be allowed in a room for DNA testing in regards to a double-murder. “If the prosecution can’t give the accused the second test that they’re entitled to, then the accused is entitled to the next best thing: An independent expert being present or videotaping of the prosecution’s one-sided test,” said local defense attorney Dan Monnat….
WICHITA, Kan. – The government is seeking more time to try the case of Terry Loewen, the man accused of plotting to set off a car bomb at the Wichita airport. “The government is saying that it conducted such an extensive, intensive, complex sting against this former United States Marine and long-time Wichita aircraft worker that it can’t even turn over all of its evidence within 120 days of arraignment,” said Attorney Dan Monnat. “Thus, the case should be called complex, and the government excused from the usual legal deadlines….”
WICHITA, Kansas – More Wichita police officers are going to be wearing body cameras.
Says KSN Legal Analyst Dan Monnat, “Recording police-citizen encounters generally preserves civil rights. For one thing, it protects police from false claims of police brutality, and it protects the citizen from false claims of confession or a waiver of rights.”
WICHITA – Police have found the woman who gave birth and surrendered her baby. However, the public release of her photo is drawing fire from supporters of the Safe Haven Law. “It remains to be seen whether dissemination of the mother’s identity, history and photograph violates any provision of the federal privacy of healthcare records act,” said Dan Monnat, a legal expert…
A teen accused of murder wants statements he made at the time of his arrest thrown out. Attorney Dan Monnat says, “Studies show suspects under the influence of alcohol or drugs have impaired recall and thus are susceptible during interrogation to being fed facts they internalize and then make false confessions…”
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.”
WICHITA, Kansas — DUI check lanes are legal…drug check lanes appear to be a legal question mark…. “No law enforcement officer has a constitutional privilege to manufacture a traffic violation that did not occur,” says KSN Legal Analyst Dan Monnat. “Such a stop would be an unreasonable seizure.….”
The National Trial Lawyers has named Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered attorney Jon McConnell to its Top 40 Under 40 list. The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40 is composed of the top trial lawyers from each state, or regions of certain highly populated states, who are younger than 40. Membership into The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 under 40 is by invitation only and is extended exclusively to those trial lawyers practicing civil plaintiff and/or criminal defense law.
The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday reversed the convictions and ordered a new trial for a former Inman police chief convicted on 15 counts of sexual assault on children living in his home. Daniel Monnat, a Wichita attorney who argued Akins’ appeal, praised the Supreme Court finding that the prosecutor’s comments denied Akins a fair trial and said, “Courtroom theatrics are not evidence….”
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…”
