Man gets probation in nightclub shooting
Scott Allen Warner was sentenced to 18 months’ probation Thursday for crimes linked to a December 2022 shooting at Baby Dolls nightclub just south of Topeka.
Warner, 37, wore a white dress shirt as he spoke briefly during the sentencing hearing before Shawnee County District Court Judge James Crowl.
“I was trying to protect people, not hurt anybody,” he said of the situation involved.
What happened?
Crowl initially sentenced Warner Thursday to 10 months in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections, then suspended that and sentenced him to 18 months’ probation.
Attorneys for the two sides involved reached a plea agreement after Warner was charged with crimes linked to the shooting of Rashaun Antonio Oche Thornton just before 2 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2022, outside Baby Dolls, a nightclub just south of Topeka, according to the criminal complaint in the case. Thornton required surgery but survived.
An altercation that was involved began near the entrance of the business and continued into the parking lot, said the Facebook page for the office of Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill.
“During the fight, multiple gunshots were fired, and one person was struck,” it said. “That person was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Warner, 37, was initially charged with level five aggravated battery in the case, court records show.
Deputy district attorney Will Manly and Jason A. Zavadil, an attorney representing Warner, subsequently signed the plea agreement, which was filed last month.
That agreement calls for Warner — who had been charged with aggravated battery — to agree to instead plead guilty to a version of aggravated battery considered less serious under Kansas sentencing guidelines.
Those guidelines pinpoint a defendant’s presumptive sentence using state sentencing grids, which take into account the defendant’s “criminal history score” and the severity of his or her new conviction or convictions.
The plea agreement reached last month arranged for Warner to potentially be sentenced to probation.
Thornton didn’t appear or speak at Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
What does the DA say?
Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay on Thursday discussed with The Capital-Journal the reasoning behind his office’s willingness to agree to a plea agreement calling for Warner to serve probation instead of prison time.
“The victim in this matter declined to cooperate with the prosecution and left our jurisdiction,” he said. “The victim’s cooperation would be necessary to obtain a conviction at trial.”
Rather than dismiss the case, the district attorney’s office negotiated a resolution that provided some measure of accountability, Kagay said.
“We discourage violent conduct in the strongest possible terms, and the overwhelming majority of these cases end with a prison sentence,” he said.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.