Subject: Trials

• Fuck You, Sam Brownback

  June 7, 2007

• Kline's Office Goes On Trial

  September 12, 2007

• ‘Dimwit D.A.’ Update

  October 4, 2007

• Breaking News: Smoking Ban on Hold!

  June 4, 2008

• Alleged gang leader gets 10 years

  October 13, 2008

• Best Lawyer

  October 19, 2000

• Judicial Short Circuit

  January 11, 2001

• Appeals court reaches for slang dictionary

  A Missouri court of appeals has determined that threatening to "put the shammy" on someone is not a felony.In 2006, a Kansas City man named William Heather was charged with harassment after he left disturbing messages on a woman's phone. In a voice message, Heather said, in part, "you can get this straight if you're someone I think I know, right, and you can go to prison for the rest of your f---ing lives and never see your children again." The message continued: "I'm getting ready to put the sh

  January 23, 2009

• Holy Ghosts

  November 18, 2004

• Law and Orders

  February 3, 2005

• Hispanic contractors lose appeal

  Photo by Jaimie WarrenArmando DiazArmando Diaz, a Latino stone mason, found damning evidence that J.E. Dunn Construction Co. made a sham of minority-hiring goals when it subcontracted work on the H&R Block headquarters. But an appeals court says Diaz has no recourse.In an opinion filed yesterday, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling against Diaz Construction Co. and the Kansas City Hispanic Association Contractors Enterprise. Diaz and KCHACE had sued the city, J.E. Dunn

  March 25, 2009

• Friday court docket

  Busy day in the courts. A jury acquitted Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller on 19 misdemeanor charges that he didn't get an independent second opinion on some abortions that he performed. How did I know Operation Rescue was going to cry that justice wasn't served?A Wyandotte County judge sentenced Brandon Hulett to life in prison (with no parole for 20 years). Hulett pleaded guilty to murdering bartender Lori Reynolds at the Gossip Inn in April 2008.  Woman slapper Larry "King Pink" John

  March 27, 2009

• Be extra-nice to your Starbucks' barista today

  There's a good chance your Starbucks' barista just lost out on his or her share of $100 million. That was the fine a Californian judge issued to Starbucks for pooling tips for baristas and shift supervisors. Yesterday, an appeals court reversed that ruling saying that supervisors and baristas are essentially the same thing.The case was brought by a former barista named Jou Chau and ended up encompassing 120,000 former or current baristas who had their tips pooled. Breaking down the numbers,

  June 3, 2009

• Morrison’s Mistress

  Insiders finally tell how Paul Morrison’s lover ran amok — and then brought him down.

  August 21, 2008

• Pitch Libs

  June 19, 2008

• The War on La Familia

  May 1, 2008

• The wealthy, backbiting, litigious, renegade-cop-hiring residents of Lake Lotawana keep things churning

  May 21, 2009

• Agent Zero

  Lessons from a lawsuit: When a real-estate deal looks sketchy, perhaps a professional should speak up.

  November 1, 2007

• The Dimwit D.A.

  June 21, 2007

• Devil's Advocates

  April 5, 2007

• Judge’s Ruling Forbids the Pitch From Publishing BPU Article

  The rare decision forced the Pitch and The Kansas City Star to remove articles about the utility.

  March 1, 2007

• The Final Operation

  Loved and loathed, weight-loss doc Timothy Sifers leaves behind a legacy of lawsuits.

  March 31, 2005

• A Bad Trip

  Rebecca Beach didn’t kill the drug dealer from Topeka. But she’s in prison for life because Kansas’ felony murder law says she did.

  June 10, 2004

• Thrown for a Bell Curve

  New employee evaluations and more layoffs mean it still sucks to work for Sprint.

  January 8, 2004

• Mother Superior Court

  The Kansas City Catholic Diocese finds itself fighting a slew of new lawsuits over abuse of parishioners all filed by one determined lawyer.

  October 16, 2003

• Dead in Bed

  Wrongful-death lawsuits plague a nursing-home company.

  September 11, 2003

• The Enforcer

  A prosecuter wears the black hat in David Wittig's white-collar-crime case.

  July 24, 2003

• Repo Men

  July 3, 2003

• Home Wrecker

  Brent Barber lives in a million-dollar mansion in Loch Lloyd, while people who invested in his real estate deals are trapped in financial hell.

  May 22, 2003

• Officers Unfriendly

  The Johnson County Sheriff's Department lets its own offenders enforce the law.

  December 19, 2002

• Tobacco Twist

  Two lawyers say smoking costs an arm and a leg.

  September 5, 2002

• The High Cost of Perfection

  Plastic surgeon Eric Swanson's bankruptcy stalls his malpractice lawsuits.

  June 20, 2002

• So Long, Joe

  While Joe Armine waits to die, Missouri courts won't admit they could have been wrong.

  July 4, 2002

• Past Due

  A federal judge forces the boys of Rent-a-Center to clean up their bad behavior.

  May 9, 2002

• Chewed Out

  A judge blames dentist Vernon Rice's sex victims.

  April 25, 2002

• Tutu Careful

  Columbine jitters may cost a Kansas town millions.

  May 2, 2002

• A Woman Scorned

  J'Noel Gardiner used to be a man. When her millionaire husband died without a will, she had a point to make.

  November 29, 2001

• Adventures in Wonderland

  April 19, 2001

• Running on Empty

  Gas station dealers find Big Oil blocking the way in their struggles against extinction (Part 2 of 2).

  November 2, 2000

• The White Power Company

  Kansas City Power & Light was as unfriendly to Hispanics as it was to blacks.

  September 21, 2000

• The Men to Call

  Charged with a serious crime? Low on funds? Kent Gipson and Sean O'Brien are the guys to call.

  April 27, 2000

• Chastain's next big fight: libel suits against The Star

  February 10, 2000

• This is the guy who woke up Westport by (allegedly) shooting people Sunday morning

  This is Ricky Brooks. Ricky L. BrooksJackson County prosecutors charged him with lighting up Westport with an assault rifle early Sunday morning. Court records say the shooting occurred around 2:40 a.m. after an argument between two women inside America's Pub, which continued in the Chili's parking lot near Westport Road and Mill Street, when a man entered the fray. Court records say the man retrieved a rifle from the trunk of a car and shot at least six rounds into a Suburban containing one of

  May 4, 2009

• Leroy Green III pleads guilty to raping children

  Leroy Green III pleaded guilty today to three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of rape. Green is the son of a former Wyandotte County Sheriff Leroy Green Jr.Leroy Green IIILast December, Green was arrested and accused of sexually assaulting four children, all younger than 14, between October 2001 and August 2008. He was charged with nine counts of rape and six counts of indecent liberties with a child.Wyandotte County District Judge Michael Grosko accepted the p

  May 11, 2009

• 'Scarface' Eduardo Escobar charged with last night's shooting

  Eduardo EscobarA member of the Mexican King gang shot a man in the abdomen last night, court records say. Kansas City police arrested 17-year-old Eduardo Escobar, aka "Scarface" and "Tomato," shortly after the shooting at 1016 Cleveland Ave. Police say Escobar had a loaded pistol grip shotgun hidden in his pants at the time of his arrest. Court records say that Escobar whipped out his shotgun and fired a round at the front passenger door of a 2002 Mazda Protege and struck the passenger in the a

  May 13, 2009

• A 69-year-old man is accused of committing five rapes in 1982

  Samuel S. JohnsonJackson County prosecutors charged Samuel S. Johnson with six counts of felony rape, two counts of felony attempted sodomy and one count of first-degree robbery Thursday. Court records allege that Johnson, 69, raped five women in between June 7 and August 26 of 1982. Johnson allegedly threatened to kill the women with a knife if they didn't have sex with him. DNA evidence linked Johnson to the crimes. Court documents say Johnson is incarcerated in the South Central Correctional

  July 16, 2009

• Lawsuit alleges that Dick Edwards Auto Plaza scammed soldiers

  ​Five Fort Riley soldiers were allegedly conned into paying for "phantom options" on vehicles they bought from the Dick Edwards Auto Plaza in Junction City, Kansas, according to a lawsuit filed June 23. The Auto Plaza, which derives approximately 75 to 80 percent of its sales from military personnel, allegedly raked in a profit of $56,000 over a four-month period from soldiers who overpaid for their vehicles. The five plaintiffs weren't informed that they were paying extra for optional feature

  July 30, 2009

• The worst blowjobs of these guys' lives

  Krystal Myers​This is the worst thought out robbery that I have ever heard of. Imagine the pitch: OK, ladies, you're going to give these guys blowjobs to distract these two guys. Then we'll come up from behind and rob these guys -- or shoot them (while you're blowing them) and then rob them. Then we'll take the money and drugs and run.That's the story alleged in court records about a shooting early Wednesday morning at 2713 Cleveland. Police found two men shot several times in an alley. One of

  July 30, 2009

• Weary Kansas drivers will know where to buy Naughty Neighbors

  ​The sex industry is facing hard times due to Internet freebies (just like newspapers!), but count a win for sex shops in Kansas where Attorney General Steve Six won't appeal a district court ruling that blocked the enforcement of a law outlawing adult entertainment businesses from advertising on the Sunflower State's highways. "Given the state's budget challenges, it would be fiscally irresponsible to continue litigation that has very little chance of success," Six said in a statement. "This

  August 12, 2009

• Killa City: Antwan S. Wooden charged with the murder of James Ragsdale

  James Ragsdale​ Antwan S. Wooden is the man who shot and killed James Ragsdale on July 18, Jackson County prosecutors allege.Prosecutors charged Wooden Wednesday with second-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of first-degree assault. Ragsdale, 30, is the grandson of Kansas City School board member, Helen Ragsdale. Court documents give this account: A car containing Ragsdale and other men pulled into a driveway in the 4300 block of Flora around 3:05 a.m. when an

  August 13, 2009