• Mar 16, 2016
  • KAKE.com

By KAKE TV

WICHITA — Wichita police are releasing surveillance video of what two Wichita State students are calling a hate crime.

The attack happened Saturday between 3:15 a.m. and 3:18 a.m. at the Kwik Shop at 21st and Oliver.

The video shows two men filling up at the pumps when one of them is confronted by a man on a motorcycle. The video appears to show the men exchanging words. Then, one of the students pushes the man on the motorcycle, who then punches and kicks him multiple times.

The surveillance video does not have sound. We asked an expert to look at the video of the incident.

“You really need to hear what the language is, that is going on, because threats of use of force can include words or actions and that’s what we need to know, in order to tell who’s the aggressor and who may be acting in self defense,” said Attorney Dan Monnat of Monnat & Spurrier Attorneys at Law.

During a news conference earlier this week, Khondoker Usama, who is the student body vice president at WSU, said he and his friend, who is Hispanic, were at the Kwik Shop filling up with gas and getting snacks when a white man on a motorcycle was yelling racial slurs at a black man when all of a sudden he turned on him and his friend.

“He started yelling at my friend, hey brown trash, brown trash go home,” said Usama.

Usama called 911 and was on the phone with dispatchers when the man circled them on his motorcycle yelling “Trump, Trump, Trump.”

His friend, who hasn’t been identified, suffered a cut to the lip.

Police are looking to question the man on the motorcycle. He is described as a white man in his 30s, about six feet tall, and 200 pounds.

Police are also looking for the driver of a white van, who was at the gas station and may have witnessed the incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (316) 268-4646.

See full video at KAKE.com

  • Feb 08, 2016
  • KAKE.com
  • -
  • by Chris Frank

KAKE TV – By Chris Frank

WICHITA – Some Kansas lawmakers say the punishments for teen sexting are too severe and need to be changed.

Rep. Ramon Gonzalez, a republican from Perry, says his bill is aimed towards rehabilitating middle and high school students caught sexting rather than punishing them with a felony and having them on a sex offenders registry for life.

Rep. Gonzalez is Police Chief in Perry, Kansas and a sheriff’s detective in Jefferson County. Gonzalez says, “If a 12 year old sends a (nude) picture to a 16 year old or vice versa it’s classified as a level 9 felony.” He asks, “Why would you want to penalize a young person like that with a level 9 felony?” He says they would also register as a sex offender.

He says with the bill’s changes, if a teen sends a nude photo of another teen or is caught possessing such a transmitted photo, it’s still a crime but a misdemeanor rather than felony.

He says, “The whole intent was making sure we don’t criminalize a child to that degree when the child’s brain is still developing as far as cognitive skills.”

Gonzalez says the teens are being “stupid” when sexting — sending sexually suggestive texts or explicit photo’s. But he wants them to have the chance at being rehabilitated.

Wichita criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat says, “Until these proposed amendments, the only Kansas law that applied to sexting were the child pornography or the child exploitation laws which carried lengthy prison sentences and lengthy periods of sex offender registration. Many viewed those laws as too severe to apply to the misguided acts or intentionally cruel acts of young people. As a result sexting in Kansas was either punished too severely or not at all.”

Monnat says the bill’s changes will give more latitude to courts. “The proposed amendments give judges and prosecutors a brand new tool with which to achieve more fairness.”

The bill came to the House floor Tuesday for debate. There wasn’t any opposition to it. On Wednesday it returns to the House floor for a vote and is expected to pass. The Senate is considering a similar bill.

See full interview at KAKE.com

  • Feb 04, 2016
  • KAKE TV
  • -
  • by Bryan Ramsdale

KAKE TV – By Bryan Ramsdale

WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) — Repair Touch technology repair store near Towne West Square closed weeks ago, according to customers, and the store still has their cell phones and computers.

“I didn’t hear from them for a couple of weeks. I tried to contact them and found out that they were no longer open, so I couldn’t get a hold of anybody and I couldn’t get my phone back,” said Ryan Hilmes.

Hilmes operates Sewer Ratz Plumbing and says the cell phone he gave to Repair Touch for repairs has important contact information on it, and he also could be missing out on business from customers calling that line.

Hilmes says the store, located at 530 South West Street, has been closed for weeks now.

He has contacted the owner multiple times and is getting a different answer as for when he will get his phone back.

“He is telling me that will be back this day or the other day and he just hasn’t shown up to call me…he is just giving me the run around,” Hilmes added.

Repair Touch owner Ashraf Hamada tells KAKE News that he will give the phones and computers back when he returns to Wichita.

Customers should expect to have their phones back by Saturday night or Sunday morning.

“Everything happened all the sudden. I got a hold of most [the customers], there were a few that were not contacted,” Hamada said.

“There is nothing shady. There is nothing going on,” he added.

KAKE News spoke to local attorney Dan Monnat of Monnat & Spurrier, Attorneys at Law for guidance on this issue.

Monnat says that the best route is to keep calm, be courteous and hope that being cordial gets them their product back.

If that does not work, Monnat suggests a lawyer.

“Excuses, postponements, missed deadlines may indicate that a reasonable time for repair of the property has already passed and that some emergency action by a court is necessary to protect the consumers rights,” Monnat said.

Reasonable time can be tricky for both the customers and the business owner as for what is reasonable to get the consumers products returned.

KAKE News reached out to the Wichita Police Department. A lieutenant says that the affect customers need to file a police report to document the incident. Affect customers can call their local police sub-station to file a report.

  • Jan 19, 2016
  • Monnat & Spurrier

WICHITA, Kan. – Kathryn Stevenson has joined Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered as an associate attorney, focusing on research, writing and appellate work.

Stevenson is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, with a Certificate in Constitutional Rights and Remedies. She is admitted to the bars of Montana, Colorado and Kansas. She earned her bachelor’s degree with high honors from the University of Montana, Davidson Honors College, where she majored in political science and Spanish, with minors in international development and Latin American Studies.

“Since law school, Kathryn Stevenson has worked for impressive criminal defense and civil rights law firms in the Denver-Boulder area providing legal research, analysis and writing for defendants in state appeals and postconviction challenges,” said Dan Monnat. “She also contributed to a capital defense team under the umbrella of the Colorado Office of Alternate Defense Counsel, during which she conducted legal research, wrote memoranda and drafted motions for a state death penalty case. Aggressive research and exemplary legal writing always lay the groundwork for courtroom defense, and we are honored to have Kathryn join our litigation team.”

While in law school Stevenson received the Hartje Objective Writing Award for excellence in persuasive writing. She also served as a legal writing teaching assistant and staff editor of the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy.

Stevenson will be based in Lawrence, Kan., and telecommute to Monnat & Spurrier’s Wichita offices.

Founded in 1985 by litigator Dan Monnat and legal scholar Stan Spurrier, Monnat & Spurrier has built an international reputation for criminal defense and appellate defense. In addition to Monnat, Spurrier and Stevenson, the firm includes two former prosecutors and a former public defender, all noted for their work in the criminal courts: Trevor Riddle, Sal Intagliata and Robb Hunter.

See more at www.Monnat.com  

  • Jan 13, 2016
  • KSN TV

TOPEKA, Kansas – Governor Sam Brownback Wednesday has ordered all state funds to Planned Parenthood be cut.

Brownback’s office said in a news release he has directed Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Susan Mosier to ensure no taxpayer money goes to Planned Parenthood through the Kansas Medicaid program.

The letter directs also to cut state funding to any other individual providers affiliated with Planned Parenthood.

Click here to read the full text of Brownback’s letter.

In a statement released by the governor office, Brownback said, “Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of baby body parts is antithetical to our belief in human dignity. No longer will we send the money of hard-working Kansas to fund an industry that disrespects life and violates the moral conscience of our people.”

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Missouri spokesperson Elise Higgins said the governor’s decision is a “smoke-and-mirrors attempt to distract from his failed fiscal policies.”

In a news release, Laura McQuade, the organizations president and CEO, said, “We refuse to serve as the Governor’s scapegoat while Kansas faces serious funding challenges in light of his weak and ineffectual fiscal policies.  His plans to cut Medicaid to PPDM will result in a legal battle which Kansas simply cannot afford to fight.”

To view the complete Planned Parenthood news release, click here.

KSN TV