Pottawatomie County will be the venue for Dana Chandler’s third trial for a 2002 double murder.
Chandler was convicted in 2012 of the murders of her ex-husband Mike Sisco and his fiance Karen Harkness at a Topeka residence. However the conviction was overturned by the Kansas Supreme Court in 2018, citing prosecutorial misconduct after the former prosecutor Jacqie Spradling had been accused of falsely leading a jury to believe Chandler had violated a protection order allegedly obtained by her ex-husband. The Kansas Supreme Court disbarred Spradling earlier this year.
A retrial was granted and took place in August and September of this year but ended in a hung jury, after six days of deliberations.
At a Sept. 29 status hearing, Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Rios denied a defense motion to acquit Chandler and ordered a third trial, which she will preside over. The change of venue was ordered by the Kansas Supreme Court’s Office of Judicial Administration following the request of Chandler’s defense attorney Tom Bath.
The new trial is set to begin Feb. 6 in Westmoreland and is expected to last four weeks.
WIBW-TV reported Wednesday that Chandler had posted bond and was released from the Shawnee County Jail.
