TOPEKA (KSNT) - For the second time in recent weeks, the State of Kansas has dismissed charges against a Topeka murder suspect just days before the trial was set to begin.
On May 15, 2023, the Topeka Police Department (TPD) said Brandon Drew, 39, was walking down a south Topeka street when someone drove up, shot and killed him. Police arrested Sydney Slaughter, 32, of Kansas City, four months later. Prosecutors charged Slaughter with first-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Slaughter was set to go to trial in Shawnee County on Aug. 6. On July 17, court records show the State of Kansas dismissed the case against him. Shawnee County District Attorney Michael Kagay told 27 News newly discovered evidence prevented the state from taking the case to trial.
A Topeka police spokeswoman confirms the department's investigation into Drew's murder remains ongoing.
A spokeswoman for Shawnee County Community Corrections said following the dismissal of his murder case, the jail placed Slaughter on hold for Wyandotte County for a bench warrant for interference with a law enforcement officer and possession of a weapon. They released him to Wyandotte County custody on July 19 after he spent nine months awaiting trial in Shawnee County.
In June, the state dismissed another Topeka murder case a month before it was set to go to trial. According to court documents, on Jan. 28 2023, Jeremy Neal, 48, was shot to death at his apartment in downtown Topeka.
The Shawnee County DA's office confirms the state dismissed charges of first-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon against the man suspected of killing Neal as part of a plea deal for an unrelated robbery which occurred on Jan. 10, 2023. According to court documents, that man was sentenced on Aug. 2 to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
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