On this date, May 25, 2012, Brenna
Morgart, a Sunday school teacher and cross-country runner, was found dead, just
five days after graduating from Seaman High School in Topeka, Kansas. In loving
memory of her, we will make her one of the 26
Christian Martyrs of Unit 1012 and we will remember her every year on May
25 and also on her birthday on April 7.
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Brenna Morgart
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Morgart
murder: Leftwich seeks to withdraw guilty plea
Contends he was 'fear mongered' into
pleading guilty
Posted: March
19, 2014 - 4:07pm
By Tim Hrenchir
tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com
Dustin
Leftwich is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in the May 2012 murder of
Brenna Morgart, contending his defense attorney “fear mongered” him into
pleading guilty to avoid a death sentence.
Shawnee
County District Court records show Leftwich, 22, acted as his own attorney Feb.
28 in filing a motion seeking permission “to withdraw his guilty plea and
proceed to trial in this matter.”
Shawnee
County District Judge Cheryl Kingfisher sentenced Leftwich to life in prison
without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty in January 2013 to
seven charges tied to the killing of Morgart, an 18-year-old recent Seaman High
School graduate, and the striking with a car of an unidentified 14-year-old
girl. Authorities said Morgart drowned when she was thrown into a creek after
being hit by a car driven by Leftwich.
Leftwich
potentially faced the death penalty before he pleaded guilty, taking capital
punishment off the table.
Leftwich is
an inmate in Lansing Correctional Facility’s central unit. His motion to
withdraw his plea alleged he pleaded guilty only because prosecutorial
misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel by his defense attorney,
Kathleen Ambrosio, overbore his will.
The motion
said: “Defense counsel spent her entire time trying to instill fear into
defendant that he will be put to death if he doesn’t plead guilty to the inflated
charges that he is not guilty of. Defendant consistently told his defense
attorney that he did not want to plead guilty, that he wanted to go to trial,
but counsel continuously fear mongered him to take a plea.”
Leftwich
filed a second motion Feb. 28 asking the court to stay for 90 days any further
proceedings on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Leftwich indicated the
move would give him time to continue his attempts — which so far have been
unsuccessful — to acquire his case file from Ambrosio.
Shawnee
County District Attorney Chad Taylor said Morgart was jogging the morning of
May 25, 2012, in the 6900 block of N.W. Jennings Road when Leftwich struck her
with a red 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix. He then forced her into the trunk, further
injuring her.
Taylor said
Leftwich drove Morgart to a creek four miles away in the 6600 block of N.W.
Huxman, where he struck her with a tire iron and attempted to rape her.
Leftwich
then dragged Morgart down a 25-foot embankment, Taylor said. He said Morgart
was alive when she was thrown into the creek.
Leftwich
pleaded guilty in January 2013 to the first-degree murder, aggravated
kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and attempted rape of
Morgart, as well as to the aggravated battery committed previously of a
14-year-old girl.
Taylor said
that girl was walking in the 6200 block of N.W. 70th on June 29, 2011, when
Leftwich approached her driving a car at 20 mph. As the girl jumped off the
road, she was struck on the shin by the car. The girl ran home through a field.
Leftwich
also pleaded guilty to filing false information in a vehicle accident, with
that charge being linked to his initial claims that he had hit a deer with his
car.
If this Leftwich ever
attempts to apply for parole, Unit 1012 who fights for the rights of victims
promises to block his parole. We present one
of her favorite bible verse in order to remember her.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.- Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)
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