Police are investigating a homicide Sept. 18 in the 100 block of North 10th.
Officers went to the location at 5:42 p.m. on reports of a shooting, a spokesman said. They found a man in his early 30s with a life-threatening gunshot wound.
The victim was taken to a hospital and died about 11:42 p.m. from his injuries, the spokesman said.
The identity of the victim will not be released until there is positive identification and the family has been notified.
The homicide is under investigation by the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Major Case Unit, which is encouraging anyone with information to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
Deaarion Potts
Today, a Wyandotte County jury convicted 17-year-old Deaarion Potts, of Kansas City, Kan., of one count of first-degree murder, one count of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle, and one count of burglary of an automobile.
The Wyandotte County district attorney sought, and the court approved, Potts’ prosecution as an adult.
Potts was convicted for his role in the Oct. 21, 2012, shooting of 17-year-old Ramon Bradley, who was from Kansas City, Kan.
The shooting began at 3rd and Washington in Kansas City, Kan. Potts was the driver of a car that followed after another car in which Bradley was a passenger. The evidence presented at trial shows that multiple shots were fired from the car Potts was driving, over the course of several blocks of travel.
Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Oct. 24.
Wyandotte County Assistant District Attorney Shawn Boyd prosecuted the case.
Chad Taylor (Staff file photo)
The Kansas Supreme Court today ruled that Chad Taylor, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, may remove his name from the general election ballot.
The Kansas secretary of state had said that Taylor’s withdrawal did not meet the requirements under law. Today the Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State Kris Kobach not to put Taylor’s name on the ballot.
The court noted that it did not need to rule on Kobach’s opinion that the Kansas Democratic Party would need to appoint a successor to Taylor to be on the November general election ballot.
“With this determination, we need not consider the parties’ numerous other arguments,” the Supreme Court opinion stated. “Nor do we need to act on Kobach’s allegation that a ruling for Taylor would require the Kansas Democratic Party State Committee to name his replacement nominee per K.S.A. 25-3905. The Kansas Democratic Party is not a party to this original action, and this court does not issue advisory opinions.”
The U.S. Senate contest earlier this year had been primarily a three-way race with incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican, facing challenges from independent candidate Greg Orman, and from Taylor. There also is a Libertarian candidate running, Randall Batson.
Sen. Roberts’ campaign staff issued this response to today’s ruling:
“Today, the Kansas Supreme Court deliberately, and for political purposes, disenfranchised over 65,000 voters. In a bow to Senators Claire McCaskill and Harry Reid, liberal activist Supreme Court justices have decided that if you voted in the Democrat Primary on Aug. 5, your vote does not matter, your voice does not matter, and you have no say in who should be on the ballot on Election Day. This is not only a travesty to Kansas voters, but it’s a travesty to the judicial system and our electoral process.”
Jean Schodorf, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state, also issued a news release on today’s ruling. It reads, in part:
“After countless hours of time, and at an unreported cost to the Kansas taxpayers, the circus created by Mr. Kobach has been decided by the Kansas Supreme Court. This decision was issued swiftly and justly, but the fact remains that if Kris Kobach was at his post working for the people of Kansas, this legal contest never would have happened,” said Schodorf. “Instead, Mr. Kobach was away from his duties. He was not present to work with Mr. Taylor, and his absence led to a situation where time, money, and respect were lost. … We cannot afford a secretary of state who would rather work in a courtroom, leading Kansas into an endless string of lawsuits. We want someone who is in the office doing the job full-time.”
The Greg Orman campaign, according to his website, issued this statement on the ruling, attributed to Jim Jonas, Orman campaign manager:
“No matter who’s on or off the ballot, Greg Orman is running as an Independent against the broken system in Washington that has failed Kansas and failed America. Kansas voters from across the political spectrum are fed up with the mess in Washington, and that’s why Republicans, Democrats and Independents are supporting Independent Greg Orman for Senate.”
