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Jury Declares Hicks InnocentPfcoto By Sttv* ZukHicks received congratulations from a friend following Friday’s verdict.Doty Gives Sherrell Burgess 3-To-lO Prison TermBy JAY BEM1S Herald Staff WriterA rural Wellsville man was found innocent Friday afternoon of a charge that he aided and abetted in second-degree murder in the July stabbing death of Jari Wills.Michael E. Hicks, 36, leaned forward at the defense table at which he was seated, let out a sigh of relief and leaned back, smiling, as District Court Judge Jules V. Doty read the verdict from a seven-man, five-woman jury.The jury deliberated about an hour and 15 minutes before reaching its decision, which was greeted by applause and yelling from several in an audience of about 50 people.“I've watched this jury throughout the trial and you have been attentive,” Doty said before discharging the defendant. “I know you have and feel like you did the right thing.”“I ain’t gonna comment,” Hicks said later. “Go see Tom.” He was referring to the lawyer he had hired to represent him in the case, Thomas Gleason Jr.“I feel good,” Gleason said, adding he thought Franklin County Attorney Wendell Barker “tried to take his evidence as far as he could.”Three other people have been convicted in the Wills slaying. One of them, Sherrell Burgess, was sentenced by Doty just before the Hicks jury returned with its verdict (see related story), while the others — Donald Burgess, Sherrell’s husband, and Charles E. Tevis of Car-honrlale —- await sentencing.“I understand his thoughts and his attitude, but I think he took it one case too far,” Gleason said of Barker.Though “it's always risky to try to second-guess a jury,” Gleason said, “I thought the quick verdict would be a verdict in our favor.”The presiding juror in the trial, Howard Randall of Ottawa RFD 2, said of the panel’s verdict: “Basically, it just boiled down to the prosecution didn't have 'without a reasonable doubt’ on anything. We could not find that he was guilty without a reasonable doubt.”Barker wouldn’t comment on the presiding juror's “reasonable doubt” remark.“I’m sure the jury did what it thought was fair, based on facts of the law as understood by the jury,” the prosecutor said.Wills, 29, a former Kansas State University basketball player and Ottawa University student, was stabbed twice after entering the Saddleback Lounge, 111 N. Main, andbecoming involved in a fight there.Hicks took the witness stand during the four-day trial and claimed he tried to calm down an argument between Donald Burgess and Wills. He said he poked Wills in the chest, that he slapped Wills’ hand away and that someone then hit him, knocking him to the floor as a fight broke out.Hicks testified that he then left the club after getting up from the floor and seeing the Burgesses, Wills and others in a fight toward the front door of the Saddleback.Sherrell Burgess, 24, Ottawa, was sentenced Friday in Franklin County District Court to three-to-10 years in prison for aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter in the JariWills stabbing.She originally was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, but a jury in earlyNovember found her guilty of the lesser offense.The sentence of three-to-10 years was the minimum she could have received for the Class C felony, punishable under Kansas law by a minimum of three-to-five years in prison and a maximum of 10-to-20.District Court Judge Jules V, Dotydenied probation, despite a plea from Burgess’ court-appointed lawyer to do so.Burgess was given credit for 139 days she has served in jail while awaiting trial and sentencing.She showed no emotion as Doty handed down the sentence and denied the probation, However, shewas fighting tears as she quickly left the courtroom.Her lawyer, Jon Lowe of Ottawa, said in asking for probation: Most importantly, your honor, Mrs. Burgess and I are going to contend to our deaths she did not commit the stabbing. .. I must direct the court’sContinued On Paaefl
Newspaper Details
Ottawa Herald
Ottawa, Kansas, US
Sat, Dec 12, 1987
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Diana S.
KS, USA 24 May 2018
Other Publications Near Ottawa, Kansas
Ottawa Campus
Ottawa Daily Republican
Ottawa Herald
