Month: March 2019

Hoax phone call that resulted in death earns California man 20 years in prison

A 20-year sentence was handed down today to a California man in a swatting case that resulted in a death in Wichita.

The man, Tyler Barriss, 26, of Los Angeles, California, made a hoax call to Wichita police that resulted in an innocent man being shot and killed by police, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. The man had no connected to the defendant.

Barriss pleaded guilty to causing a deadly swatting incident in Wichita on Dec. 28, 2017, as well as dozens of similar crimes in which no one was injured. In those cases, Barriss pleaded guilty to charges filed in federal courts in California and the District of Columbia.

In the Wichita case, Barriss entered guilty pleas to one count of making a false report resulting in a death, one count of cyberstalking and one count of conspiracy. Barriss agreed to accept a sentence of 20-25 years as part of the plea. His counsel argued for the minimum 20, the government for the maximum 25, and the Court imposed a 20-year sentence, believed to be the longest sentence imposed for swatting or hoaxes.

“Swatting is no prank,” McAllister said. “Sending police and emergency responders rushing to anyone’s home based on utterly false information as some kind of joke shows an incredible disregard for the safety of other people.”

“I hope that this prosecution and lengthy sentence sends a strong message that will put an end to the juvenile and reckless practice of ‘swatting’ within the gaming community, as well as in any other context,” McAllister said. “Swatting is just a terrible idea. I also hope that today’s result helps bring some peace to the Finch family and some closure to the Wichita community,” McAllister said.

Soto shutout gets Blue Devils split at Fort Scott

Carlos Soto (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College rebounded from a disappointing come-from-behind extra inning 5-4 loss with a 5-0 shutout at Fort Scott Wednesday.

Sophomore Carlos Soto of Kissimmee, Florida, turned in his best pitching performance of the season in blanking the Greyhounds in the second game.

The loss left the Blue Devils (12-2) in third place in the Jayhawk Conference standings behind Johnson County (8-0) and Cowley (7-1). Fort Scott (10-4) and Blue Devils will conclude their four-game series at KCKCC Sunday at 1 p.m.

Soto allowed just four hits, striking out seven, walking two and hitting three.

“He was toughest with men on base, stranding runners in every inning of the 7-inning nightcap. He really pitched well and mixed up his pitches,” KCKCC coach Matt Goldbeck said.

The Blue Devils (23-7) backed Soto with 12 hits including a double and two singles by Griffin Everett, three Jose Sosa singles and a Kemper Bednar double. KCKCC took a 1-0 lead in the first on singles by Traice Hartter, Kevin Santiago and Sosa’s bunt single for the RBI and then added three runs in the fourth.

After singles by Sosa, Everett and Jose Acosta loaded the bases, Tyler Henry singled in one run, Matt Schrick’s sacrifice fly scored a second and Bednar doubled in the third. Sosa’s third hit scored the Blue Devils final run in the seventh.

The Blue Devils took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth in the opener on a two-out double by Eric Hinostroza after Schrick drew a walk only to have the Greyhounds score twice in the bottom of the inning off reliever Gaby Ramos. With one out, Fort Scott tied the game on a single, stolen base and single and then won it on an infield throwing error.

Orlando Ortiz pitched the first six innings, scattering nine hits while allowing three runs, one of which was unearned. He struck out seven, walked four and left nine men stranded on base. Hinostroza doubled twice and Acosta doubled and singled for four of KCKCC’s six hits.

Trailing 1-0, the Blue Devils tied the game in the second on an Acosta single and throwing error and then went ahead 3-1 in the third, scoring one run on a walk, single by Tyler Henry and a Schrick sacrifice fly and the second on Acosta’s double. Fort Scott got a run back in the fifth on a two-out double and then tied it in the sixth on a throwing error. The Greyhounds had a chance to take the lead with a runner on third and no one out but Ortiz pitched out of the jam.

“It’s tough to beat a good team on the road,” Goldbeck said. “We made a couple of errors that costs us runs but in all fairness, the guys were trying to make plays.”

Kansas Supreme Court upholds district court decision

The Kansas Supreme Court today affirmed a Wyandotte County District Court conviction of Mark T. Salary, who was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and arson.

A jury convicted Salary of shooting and killing his uncle, Joe Estell, and setting fire to Estell’s home.

In an earlier appeal, the court vacated Salary’s hard-50 sentence and remanded it for resentencing. The prosecution then sought a hard-25 sentence.

Salary filed several motions to appeal. He challenged the court’s denial of his motion to dismiss, alleged ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel, challenged the denial of his motion for exculpatory evidence, and alleged he was denied allocution at resentencing.

Today the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the district court did not err, and affirmed Salary’s convictions and sentences.

The decision is online at
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2019/20190329/116406.pdf .