Wichita police officer cleared by jury, judge in charges related to off-duty incident

A Wichita police officer has been acquitted of two criminal charges, and a judge also dismissed a third charge against her.

All three charges were related to the same off-duty incident in October.

On Wednesday, a Sedgwick County District Court jury found Officer Jax Rutledge not guilty of domestic battery and criminal deprivation of property, both misdemeanors.

Judge Joe Kisner also dismissed a third charge against Rutledge: misdemeanor intimidation of a witness.

“We’re extremely happy with the results of this trial,” Rutledge’s defense attorney, Mark Schoenhofer, said Thursday. “These last 10 months have been extremely stressful in view of the fact that a different result would have been the loss of her job and her release from the National Guard.”

Rutledge, a patrol officer based at the east patrol station, has been with the Wichita Police Department for more than nine years and is a Marine veteran, Schoenhofer said.

In January, The Eagle reported that Rutledge’s charges resulted from an Oct. 9 incident when she was off duty. Rutledge was arrested after an altercation at her residence with her son and his girlfriend. She was accused of slapping the girlfriend and taking her phone from her.

The January article said that Police Chief Gordon Ramsay noted that Rutledge was placed on administrative leave without pay.

“We hold our officers to the highest standards, and accountable when they fail to meet those standards,” Ramsay said.

On Thursday, attorneys representing the police union — Fraternal Order of Police — emailed this statement on the withheld pay: “After the charges were filed, Officer Rutledge was denied the opportunity to work in any capacity and suspended indefinitely without pay. A neutral arbitrator upheld the FOP Wichita Lodge #5 grievance challenging her unpaid suspension. City Manager Robert Layton rejected the arbitrator’s decision.”

As a result, the union has filed a petition in Sedgwick County District Court asking a judge to review the decision by the city manager.