Shawnee County DA will seek third murder trial against Dana Chandler, legal filing shows

The Shawnee County District Attorney's office will pursue a third trial against Dana Chandler, accused of a pair of 2002 homicides, less than a month after a jury was unable to reach a verdict in a second trial against her.

Chandler, accused of the 2002 killings of her ex-husband Mike Sisco and his fiancée Karen Harkness, and her defense team had filed a motion to acquit after a trial that took most of August resulted in a hung jury.

A legal filing in response to Chandler's motion to acquit by Deputy District Attorney Charles Kitt on Thursday, though, indicates prosecutors will seek a third trial against her.

"(T)he State requests the Court deny the defendant's Motion as it is clear there was sufficient evidence to convince a reasonable person that the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged," reads Kitt's response. "Furthermore, the State is requesting the matter be scheduled for a new trial."

Chandler had been arrested in 2011 and convicted of the killings in 2012, but the Kansas Supreme Court later overturned that conviction after finding then-prosecutor Jaqui Spradling had engaged in serious prosecutorial misconduct and error. After the high court's ruling, prosecutors elected to open a new trial against Chandler, and the Miracle of Innocence Project helped pay for Chandler's new defense by Bath & Edmonds, a Leawood-based criminal defense firm.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors acknowledged they had little physical evidence to convict Chandler, so they instead urged jurors to focus on volumes of circumstantial evidence that portrayed Chandler as a vindictive, jealous and scorned ex-wife.

Chandler's defense team, in turn, led by Tom Bath, asked jurors to consider what he argued were sloppy mistakes and missed opportunities by prosecutors and police to investigate other potential suspects.

More:Dana Chandler's second murder trial ends in hung jury

Third trial rare, but not unusual, says Kansas criminal defense attorney

The trial, which produced dozens of witnesses, took much of August, and jurors deliberated for over 40 hours before returning without a verdict. Capital-Journal interviews with jurors after the trial showed that much of the jury thought Chandler had likely committed the murders, but that the state had not risen above the level of reasonable doubt needed for them to convict her.

Bath referred questions to Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay's office, which would have made the decision to try Chandler a third time. Kagay's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment, although The Capital-Journal previously reported Kagay had consulted with members of the Sisco and Harkness families, as well as at least one juror, in making the decision.

David Graham, an independent Johnson County criminal defense attorney who has been following the case since it was remanded by the Supreme Court, said it was rare but not entirely unusual to see a third trial in the same case.

More:Jurors split 7-5 on convicting Dana Chandler. Two members shared why they couldn't vote 'guilty.'

Graham — who has practiced throughout Kansas, twice as a prosecutor, for 37 years — said the matter still needs to head to Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Rios, but he imagined she will likely decline Chandler's motion to acquit and grant the prosecution's request to schedule a new trial.

"In this case, the first trial was so unusual, that I almost see this (new trial) as the second one," he said. "In the first trial, Chandler did not have the robust defense she had this time, and we now know that the prosecution did not adhere to the rules in order to secure a conviction, so I wouldn't think it entirely unusual if Rios authorizes a retrial from this one."

More:Juror explains why Dana Chandler is guilty: 'This is the real world, and not a TV show'

After a second, substantial trial, the prosecution and defense will be primed as the opposing team's arguments, Graham said. He expects to see renewed motions for a change of venue, given the high profile and recent nature of August's retrial. Key points of focus in any third trial will be on jury selection and in witness presentation.

A status hearing on Chandler's case is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Dana Chandler should face third trial, Shawnee County DA filing argues