Political yard signs supporting President Trump have been vandalized in east Wichita. Criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV, “Political speech is at the core of the First Amendment privilege…. No one has a First Amendment right to suppress the speech of another by physical threats, destruction, damage, defacement, or violence….”

Under local mandates, businesses must require masks for employees and customers who can’t maintain social distancing…but what can business owners legally do with customers who refuse to wear a face-covering? Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV, “When the person refuses to wear a mask, they’re refusing to obey the law. The business owner is within his or her rights to order them to leave. If they refuse to leave and thereby interfere with the business, they may have committed the crime of criminal trespass or interference with the lawful conduct of business….”

Police said a Wichita man shot two people outside his home around 2 am Monday. He apparently heard the two talking about targeting his home. When they pulled into his driveway, he yelled at them before firing. Attorney Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV, “A person is presumed to have justification for using deadly force whenever it’s used to prevent or terminate an aggressor’s unlawful entry into a home. Now, if they’re in the driveway, is that what the law considers a dwelling? Every case depends upon its specific facts….”

For months, the disappearance of Lucas Hernandez has been on the minds of many in this community, including criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat. “Speculation in these cases is always to be avoided. Science and medicine will tell us the manner in which Lucas Hernandez died, whether that’s by criminal means or by natural causes or accident….”

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles man wanted in Kansas has waived extradition proceedings in California and will face a felony allegation that he made a hoax emergency call that led to the fatal police shooting of a Wichita resident. Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV the man could face serious charges like “second degree murder, which is a human being killed unintentionally but recklessly, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life….”

WICHITA – Drivers that were issued tickets during a now-suspended Wichita Police camera-based traffic enforcement pilot program, must pay their fines. Some people are wondering if the system is legal, so KAKE asked attorney Dan Monnat to weigh in. “We may not like living in a high-tech world of “big brother-like” recordation of our every public action, but that doesn’t mean it’s unconstitutional,” Monnat said….

More than a week since the remains of a 3-year-old boy were found inside a concrete structure, many questions surround the case. Dan Monnat tells KWCH TV, “Likely there’s an autopsy involved here to determine whether or not the child died of natural causes or criminal means,” and those results could point investigators in a different direction…

WICHITA, Kan. – A criminal case against a Wichita Police Officer accused of rape has been closed. While Officer Marlon Woolcock was arrested , he was never charged with the crime. The case has been dismissed because forensic evidence could not substantiate the case. Says KAKE Legal Expert Dan Monnat: “It is the duty of the District Attorney, and the media who broadcast that officer’s arrest, to make it clear to the public this individual is innocent, he has been exonerated, he did not commit a crime…

WICHITA – A Wichita mom is fighting to change Kansas law after her teenage son was left to die in a pool. KSN Legal Expert Dan Monnat says, “Generally in the U.S., the law regulates actions and codes of morality regulate the less clear area of omissions to act. Generally in Kansas, there is no legal duty to rescue or render aid to someone in peril…”