The Wichita Eagle has the sad, sad story of Benjamin Redgate's trial for second-degree murder (Redgate's older brother, Christopher, has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder).
The incident started when Luke German, 22, accused the Redgate brothers of cheating after losing a game. German was reportedly intoxicated (he showed up to the Redgates' home with beer and K2). German and Chris Redgate got into a shoving match, and Redgate put German in a headlock.
The Eagle reported that Amy Davey testified that Christopher Redgate, her common-law husband and the father of her two toddlers, was kicking German while Benjamin was hitting German with a metal pipe that he called a "Dizzle" stick. (Dizzle is Benjamin Redgate's nickname.)
German was found unconscious outside the Redgates' home; he died two days later. Benjamin Redgate allegedly told everyone to lie to police and say that German went to a liquor store and no one saw anything. Davey, claiming she feared for her safety, complied.
However, Benjamin Redgate's live-in girlfriend, Erika Courson, testified that Christopher Redgate was the main attacker, and Benjamin Redgate was trying to break up the fight.
There are a lot of sad parts to this story, such as Davey and Christopher Redgate splitting their food stamps with Benjamin Redgate and Courson in return for a place to live, and Courson writing "the DA is a bitch" on her Facebook wall. But the saddest is that there were two toddlers living in this environment.
