Waddell retrial begins
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 01:42 p.m., February 21, 2008
Updated 01:42 p.m., February 21, 2008
A trial is underway in Sedgwick County Court in Wichita for a former Americus resident who was sentenced to prison in 2003 after being convicted here on charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
Kenneth Waddell, 60, had been granted a retrial by the Kansas Court of Appeals. The Kansas Supreme Court in May 2006 refused to hear an appeal on the decision.
The court of appeals had ruled that Waddell’s constitutional rights were violated when the young victim in the case was allowed to testify by videotape, rather than in person. The appeals court also said that the testimony from Waddell’s daughter was prejudicial to his rights. The daughter said she also had been molested by Waddell, although too much time had elapsed for prosecution by the time the allegations were made.
Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman, who appealed to the state supreme court, and Assistant County Attorney Amy Aranda are prosecuting the case in the Wichita courtroom. Chief Judge Merlin Wheeler is hearing the case.
The retrial had been set to begin on Jan. 28 in Lyon County District Court. Goodman said that about half of the potential jurors who completed a questionnaire said that they had some knowledge of the case.
Based on that information, the defense again requested that Waddell be granted a change of venue, and Goodman did not object.
Wheeler on Monday seated 14 jurors, which includes a panel of 12 jurors and 2 alternates, for the trial that is expected to go through Friday, according to Clerk of the District Court Jeanne Turner.
Wheeler and other court staff are in Wichita to conduct the trial; Sedgwick County court staff are not involved.
“It’s not a true change of venue,” Turner explained. “It’s just a change of venue for jury trial. It’s Lyon County’s case; it always will be. We’re just hearing it in Sedgwick County.”