June 3rd Reads

 Double murderer and triple-tried murderer Dana Chandler, 65, got sentenced today to life imprisonment for the 2002 murders of her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his fiancee, Karen Harkness, in Topeka, Kansas.

Since she foolishly fired her attorneys and represented herself and put herself on the witness stand, I don't think anybody but the most ignorant would find her not guilty of the murders.

Let's hope any appeal will be unsuccessful.

More details about today's sentencing is here.

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AI will hardly protect women from sexual assault from men.

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Some Thursday Reads

 Until a few minutes ago, I forgot to keep track of the Dana Chandler double murder retrial in Topeka, Kansas.  She was the woman accused of killing her former husband, Mike Sisco, and his fiancee, Karen Harkness, back in 2002.  Her two children and other family members long believed she killed both of them in a jealous rage because her ex was planning to remarry.  Chandler was convicted of the crimes several years back, 2012 to be exact, but the Kansas Supreme Court overturned the convictions because of prosecutorial misconduct.  The lead prosecutor in the original trial, Jacqui  Spradling, was disbarred over misconduct in this and other cases.  This was a classic case not only of screw-ups by the district attorney's office, but it was also a textbook case on how not to conduct a police investigation.

This week one of the highlights was a surprise witness who claimed to have seen Chandler's car near the scene of the crimes.

The case has now gone to the jury.  As botched as this case has been, it would be a travesty not to convict her.

When your kids think you have committed the murders given the extensive history of stalking and harassment--and Chandler was known to have traveled from her apartment in Denver to Topeka solely to harass Mike and Karen--then that should be the end of it.

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Our Fucked Up Legal System

I can't get over the outrageous prosecutorial misconduct in the Dana Chandler case.  The tragedy in all this is Chandler is guilty of double murder, but the state completely and totally fucked up.

The link is a year old, but it spells out what happened with the prosecution.  The chief prosecutor should be disbarred for making shit up to get a conviction.

The Chandler case is a classic case of the police falling down on the job and not picking up evidence at the scene of the crime including wine bottles and cigarette butts for DNA.  They just walked all over the crime scene, contaminating it.  What fucking incompetence.  This is why Chandler got away with the murders for so long.

It's possible she will get away with it again in a new trial, thanks to prosecutorial fucking up in this first trial.  However, she is representing herself, so she might not.

From the year-old link, which sums up what happened with the case:

The Supreme Court’s powerful legal microscope has eerily pivoted beyond actions attributed to Chandler to the work of Spradling and, to a lesser extent, Taylor. During oral argument of Chandler’s appeal, members of the Supreme Court offered withering critiques of actions by the prosecution during the 2012 trial. A majority of the court invited Spradling to rebut allegations of misconduct.

Three justices fixated on the same point. They were distressed Spradling told the trial jury that Sisco secured a court protective order in 1998 to shield him from Chandler. Spradling referenced this supposed order in a written brief to the Supreme Court and offered a puzzling defense of the assertion in person.

Probably the reason Sisco and Harkness didn't get protective orders against Chandler is because Chandler lived 500 miles away, in Colorado.  They might have also felt a restraining order wouldn't have stopped her anyway.

This is as bad as it gets for prosecutors. Spradling herself should have gone to jail for this.

The Dana Chandler Case

The original 2009 48 Hours episode titled "Haunted" hosted by the late Harold Dow:



The second part of this episode which aired as the "premiere" of the new season of 48 Hours last night. Richard Schlesinger reports:




link


The extras are worth looking at as well. Two of them, including daughter Hailey Sisco's powerful victim impact statement, which even left the judge in tears:

I'll Make Sure I Watch "48 Hours" Tomorrow Night

It is the season opener, and it is an update of the Dana Chandler case, mentioned on a number of blog posts here. She was the Kansas woman convicted of killing her ex-husband and his fiancee back in July of 2002. She was convicted this past March and sentenced to two "hard-50" life terms.

I might end up posting the updated episode when it is loaded on the CBS website by Sunday morning.

Here is a preview:

Despite detectives' original reservations that a woman who lived eight hours away in Denver could be responsible for these homicides, the victims' families had long suspected Mike's ex-wife, Dana Chandler. It became more feasible when they discovered that she had a 27-hour window where no one heard from her, and that she had bought two 5-gallon gas tanks the day before the murders.

While we were researching, we made sure to check into alternative theories to ensure that no stone was left unturned. We re-interviewed all the family members and spoke to people who knew Mike and Dana as a couple, as well as separately. We went to the crime scene, went through the Siscos large divorce file, and read various psychological reports that had been done. We headed out to Colorado to check Dana's alibi. We made several attempts to try and speak with Dana herself, but she would not agree to talk to us on or off camera.

Etc.

In the past few weeks, I noticed that on my Site Meter account a few people were searching for information about Jane Woodburn, who had been a deputy superintendent at WCSD, and that she had supposedly been fired.

Well, I looked at the executive cabinet page on WCSD's website, and apparently she is no longer with the district. She may have been given the ax or quit. Notably the district did NOT post her job when it became available.

Her replacement is one Traci Davis.

It appears she came from Clark County School District and was an "Area 2" academic manager.

I tipped Andrew Barbano, a columnist for the Sparks Tribune and a labor activist, about this information on his FB page, and he told me he was going to place some calls and look into it.
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The Dana Chandler murder case officially ended today when the judge sentenced the double murderer to two "hard 50" terms. This in effect means she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

She was convicted in March of killing her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his fiance, Karen Harkness, in 2002 at Harkness's townhouse in Topeka, Kansas. The murder case received national attention thanks to an episode of 48 Hours in 2009, which helped to reopen the cold case.

According to testimony, a scorned Chandler drove a round trip from Denver to Topeka to break into the Harkness home in southwest Topeka where she ambushed the sleeping couple, shooting them 10 to 12 times.

The aggravating circumstances to impose the hard-50 terms were Chandler purposely killed more than one person, and Chandler committed the slayings in "an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner" based on prior stalking of the victims and inflicting mental anguish since neither victim died instantly, Parrish said.

The judge could have sentenced Chandler to two concurrent life terms with parole eligibility after 25 years, two consecutive life terms with parole eligibility after 50 years, two concurrent hard-50s, and two consecutive hard-50s.

"Your acts were extremely self-centered," Parrish said. "It is really inconceivable that a mother could scar her children so deeply."

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Bellyaching about the tiny number of predators is just an excuse for districts like NYC to be able to dump "expensive" teachers in favor of cheapo bimbos.

Being accused of something doesn't mean it's true. Depriving somebody of a property right when that person is innocent means a massive lawsuit and settlement.

That's why accused predators are put on paid leave pending investigations.
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Etc.

Once you are marked for professional death at a school district, it will move heaven and earth to get rid of you.
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Prosecutors in the Dana Chandler case are seeking a so-called "hard 50" sentence for the convicted killer. This means she can't come up for parole until she has served 50 years.

Chandler was convicted of killing her ex-husband and his fiancee in Topeka, Kansas.

The document also states Chandler should receive a Hard 50 sentence for the Murder of Sisco and a separate Hard 50 sentence for the murder of Harkness “because the murders were committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner.”

Chandler News

The district attorney in Topeka is going to look at having Dana Chandler, convicted yesterday of two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the deaths of her ex-husband and his fiancee, be given consecutive life sentences instead of having those sentences be served concurrently. A life sentence in Kansas means a convicted person would not be eligible for parole for 25 years. If Chandler is sentenced to two consecutive life terms, she would in effect be sentenced to prison for the rest of her life unless she can give up cigarettes and is blessed with strong genetics.

Video:

Chandler Verdict

In what must rank as one of the fastest verdicts in American criminal history, the jury in the Dana Chandler case found her guilty of two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.

She was convicted of killing her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his fiancee, Karen Harkness, back in 2002.

It took the jury only about 90 minutes before reaching the verdict.

There never was any question she did it; hence, the defense did not really put up any kind of case for acquittal.

Immediately after the two guilty verdicts were read, a Department of Corrections officer cuffed Chandler’s hands behind her back. She then turned to look at family members with a slight smile on her face.

As his mother stood just a few feet away before being led from the courtroom, Dustin Sisco, the son of Mike Sisco and Chandler, hugged chief deputy district attorney Jacqie Sprading.

Perhaps the families can finally heal.

48 Hours deserves a lot of the credit for getting this cold case reopened and helping it to its long overdue conclusion.

Hailey Sisco talks about the conviction of her mother:




The jurors speak:

In reaching the guilty verdict, the fact the evidence was circumstantial — not forensic evidence such as fingerprints or DNA — wasn't a problem, three jurors said.

"Sometimes you have to look outside the box" of forensic evidence, presiding juror Kay Brundage said. During the trial, jurors waited for something else to come "from the defense. It just never came," Brundage said.

Bennett suggested a burglar might have killed the victims, but common sense tells you that a burglar would have taken something, Brundage said. Witnesses said more than $1,300, a Rolex watch, jewelry and electronic gear were in the duplex when the victims were found.

"The way the bodies were positioned, the way the shots were fired, there was rage," Brundage said. "Who had the rage?"

Jurors first voted to get their bearings, and jurors weren't unanimous to convict, Brundage said.

The jurors looked at some evidence, discussed the case and voted a second time. Jurors voted unanimously to convict Chandler.

Chandler Case

Here is a live blogging/tweeting of the closing arguments of the Dana Chandler case.

It's expected the case will go to the jury today.

Prosecution: “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” It’s evidence of premeditation.--This is the argument for Chandler's conviction in a nutshell.

If convicted, Chandler will not get the death penalty.

Edit: Closing arguments are over. The jury is now deliberating.

Chandler Case

The defense suddenly rested in the Dana Chandler double murder case in Topeka, Kansas, today. Chandler's defense attorney, Mark Bennett, spent less than a half a day pointing to various gaps in the prosecution's narrative.

The defense also called a neighbor of Karen Harkness who said she had an affair with a married man whose wife also had made calls to her. The prosecution pointed to the fact this incident happened long before the murders to be of relevance.

The prosecution had earlier pointed to numerous phone calls Chandler made to the victims in the months leading up to the murders.

Closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow, with jury deliberation to follow.

Clip:





In the comments following this article, a poster said that during the trial it was revealed authorities had found five different driver's licenses and five different license plates in Chandler's trailer at the time she was picked up in Oklahoma last summer. It was also mentioned that Dustin Sisco, her son with victim Mike, stated his mother had owned a gun.

I mentioned before Dustin's statement that his mother had planned to go to Topeka during the week of the murders is really the key to the whole thing. He being out of town gave Dana the perfect opening to drive down there and kill the victims.

It's too bad this trial wasn't nationally televised because a lot of information hasn't been reported in the local media.

There is no question as to her guilt, but whether a jury can draw the obvious conclusion is the question. Judging from many of the comments from local media articles, many people think there has to be physical or forensic evidence to convict. Not true at all.