Change of venue granted
Waddell trial to move out of town
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
An Americus man convicted once of raping a 6-year-old child will have a second trial at a location outside the Fifth Judicial District.
Jury selection in the second trial of Kenneth Waddell was to have begun this morning in Lyon County District Court before Judge Merlin Wheeler. Waddell’s 2003 conviction on charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child had been overturned by the Kansas Court of Appeals. The state Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.
The defense had asked for a change of venue for the second trial but was denied late in fall 2007. This morning, results of a pre-trial questionnaire became an issue. The questionnaire polled potential jurors on their knowledge of the case or Waddell.
“The defense renewed its motion for a change of venue,” said Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman. “That was based on just short of 50 percent of the questionnaires indicating some type of knowledge of this case or Mr. Waddell.”
Goodman said that the prosecution would not have been able to determine the extent of any prejudice that might exist, and did not oppose the change of venue.
“While the defense asserted that Mr. Waddell has always wanted a fair trial somewhere else, the state believed that the victim’s and the state’s need for this issue to not cause another trial warranted not opposing their motion for change of venue, based on the high numbers of people who had prior knowledge. ...
“This is a question of justice, not a question of cost,” Goodman said.
A new trial date and venue should be announced within the next 90 days.
The appeals court had ordered a new trial for Waddell, based on the child’s videotaped testimony to the court during the trial and said the lack of direct testimony in court violated Waddell’s constitutional rights. The appeals court also said that testimony from Waddell’s daughter was prejudicial to his rights. The daughter was an adult when she testified against her father, saying that he had molested her regularly for 11 years.
Waddell was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the 2003 conviction.
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)