County official: Stand your ground not the reason DA declined charges in Lofton death

From behind a podium at the Sedgwick County Jail, District Attorney Marc Bennett asserted that the five county employees who held Cedric Lofton facedown on the concrete floor of a holding cell for nearly 45 minutes in September 2021 were acting in self-defense.

Bringing charges against them for the unarmed 17-year-old’s death would be futile under Kansas’ stand your ground statute, Bennett said. That statute allows for the use of deadly force if a person “reasonably believes” it to be necessary to defend themselves or someone else against a deadly threat.

“If I bring this case, the immunity statute says they cannot be prosecuted,” Bennett told reporters in January. “I’m not supposed to file this charge. If I did it anyway, the judge would be duty-bound to dismiss the case.”

Now, months later, Bennett’s stance is at issue as the Sedgwick County Commission debates whether to follow through on a request from the Lofton task force to lobby for a state review of the immunity statute in Topeka.

Commissioner Jim Howell says that Bennett has told him in personal conversations that stand your ground wasn’t the main reason he opted not to charge the workers who held down the 135-pound Black teen until he went into cardiac arrest due to lack of oxygen.

“The district attorney made it clear to me . . . regardless of stand your ground law, he would not have prosecuted these five people because there wasn’t evidence to support the charge. So the stand your ground law is a distraction,” Howell said at the commission’s Oct. 12 meeting.

Bennett declined to say if he has discussed his charging decision with Howell. The district attorney said in an email that there wasn’t enough evidence to support “intentional,” “knowing” or “reckless” homicide charges. He said his investigation into potential involuntary manslaughter charges was “the part of the analysis implicated by ‘stand your ground.’”

In an Oct. 4 email obtained by The Eagle, County Manager Tom Stolz said he and Commissioners David Dennis and Sarah Lopez met virtually with Bennett, Sheriff Jeff Easter and the head of the nonpartisan state law audit to discuss stand your ground.

“DA Bennett again wanted to emphasize that criminal charges in the matter would have been difficult to prove even if SYG did not exist,” Stolz said in the email to commissioners. “The presence of SYG essentially tied his hands on reviewing the matter.”

Deadly force

Video surveillance from within Wichita’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center shows the extended struggle between Lofton and county employees, who placed him in leg shackles before physically restraining him. The video does not have audio.

In January, Bennett said he has no way of disputing the corrections workers’ claim that Lofton never expressed he was in distress or struggling to breathe before he lost consciousness.

“Each (employee) was interviewed and asked why. Why didn’t you let him up?” Bennett said at the time. “The answer was, ‘We couldn’t per policy when he was shackled. At this point, we cannot leave him shackled alone. We have to be there. We have to restrain him.’ They were also concerned he was going to hurt one of them or himself.”

Former Sedgwick County Corrections Director Glenda Martens said after Lofton’s death that the employees “acted well within the policy and the requirements of that policy” throughout the fatal incident.

Because Lofton swung at a corrections worker who attempted to physically move him back into a holding cell, county employees were justified in restraining him, Bennett found. Because Lofton continued to struggle against them, they were immune from prosecution for their actions over the next 45 minutes, the DA said.

State law review

The task force convened by the county to review Lofton’s death and propose systemic changes has asked the commission to initiate a state audit of stand your ground as it applies to in-custody and officer-involved deaths.

County commissioners appear divided on whether they should make that a legislative priority in 2023.

In the Oct. 4 email, Stolz recapped the county’s meeting with the head of the nonpartisan state law audit to discuss stand your ground.

“Post audit was not necessarily the proper venue, and the state audit office confirmed that,” Stolz said. “A better option for language for the commission to look at there if they want this on the agenda or maybe even to take it off the agenda and refer it to the senate or legislative judiciary committee. That would be a more effective way to have the law looked at. Or the AG’s office.”

Commissioner Lacey Cruse said she would like to see the stand your ground law referred to the Kansas Judicial Council, which is enshrined in statute and can recommend changes to “improve the administration of justice in Kansas,” according to its website.

“If the post audit isn’t the correct way to go, then let’s help them and let’s decide what is the best way to go about this so that this doesn’t happen again in our community,” Cruse said at the Oct. 12 meeting.

Howell said Sedgwick County shouldn’t spend political capital in Topeka lobbying for a review of state law has “nothing to do with the Cedric Lofton task force.”

“It is absolutely about Cedric Lofton,” Cruse responded to Howell. “It is absolutely about making sure this doesn’t happen again. You might as well slap the face of every single task (force) member right now.”

Lopez said she’s not convinced the county has a role to play in efforts to initiate action on stand your ground in Topeka.

“At the end of the day, I think it’s really important to remember that stand your ground is a state issue. We do not get to decide what happens with it,” Lopez said. “So we can add something to our platform and advocate on a certain position but it is not up to the county commissioners to change anything with stand your ground.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 5:27 AM.