Newell receives probation
Gun, stalking charges dismissed in plea agreement
Staff writer
Ryan Newell of Marion pleaded guilty to two counts of impersonating an officer Thursday in Sedgwick County court.
With the plea agreement, Newell will serve two years probation.
Newell was originally charged with stalking the Fred Phelps family Nov. 30 in Wichita. Three other counts were for criminal use and concealing weapons, including an M4 rifle, a .45 glock pistol, and a .38 Smith and Wesson pistol. These charges were dropped
“My thing is that the case was originally overcharged,” Newell’s attorney Boyd McPherson said Friday.
Newell was released Dec. 7 to McPherson so he could receive psychological treatment at Colmery O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka. Neither McPherson or Chief Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker would say if Newell was still receiving treatment.
Newell admitted to suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in a previous interview; he lost both legs from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack while serving with the Army in Afghanistan.
“We worked on the pretrial program to get him all the treatment medically available,” Parker said.
Parker said she believed, and hoped, Newell was on the road to recovery. She said this was one of the factors in the plea agreement.
“One of the things we were required to do is review the individual situation,” Parker said. “We try to determine what will serve the community, protect the community. Once you put the case in individual context, it’s different.”
McPherson said Newell’s case “dropped off of a lot of people’s radar” after seven months of deliberation. Neither Parker nor McPherson acknowledged if there was less pressure from the Phelps family to make a decision on Newell.
“They are content with this result,” Parker said of the Phelps family.
McPherson said Newell has been living in Marion since March, although he has been spending time working on a custom motortricycle at a shop in Wichita.