HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The trial for a 32-year-old Hutchinson man charged with kidnapping is expected to wrap up in Reno County District Court Thursday.
Todd Lloyd is accused of holding his girlfriend at knife point in front of several police officers after he tried to elude community corrections officers who wanted him taken into custody on a violation from an earlier case. This occurring back on April 23.
The state rested their case and the defense was presenting their case Wednesday afternoon, however the defense hasn’t officially rested.
They called Don Wilkins with Community Corrections who has been Lloyd’s corrections officer in other cases and was present during the altercation with police. Attorney Carl Maughn asked Wilkins on whether the defendant went down on his own after he tossed the two knives in his hand. Wilkins then stated that an officer kicked Lloyd to the ground when he refused to obey commands and its then that he became upset and combative.
There was also some indication that Lloyd may have been suicidal, having slit his wrist about a week before and had been referred to Horizon’s. District Attorney Keith Schroeder on cross examination had Wilkins explain to the jury that they had tried numerous times to get Lloyd help for his methamphetamine addiction and that more often then not he would not comply.
Also on the stand was his mother and stepfather who both testified that a week prior to this incident, they noticed Lloyd acting different and knew he had hurt himself by cutting his wrist.
The alleged victim in the case, Jennifer Hartman also took the stand and stated she was there when he cut his wrist and called Wilkins to get him help. She said he was acting paranoid, believing he was on methamphetamine. She also denied she was ever threatened by Lloyd saying she was in front of him when the officers were there because she was afraid they might shoot him, something the defendant may have wanted.
But, Schroeder went after her saying she didn’t do anything to get him to put the knives down and at one point did drop down leaving him open to be shot.
On the stand Wednesday morning was Hutchinson Police Sgt. Josh Radloff who testified about the struggle they had with the defendant and how close they came to shooting him. He told the jury of telling Hartman to drop down hoping they could get a clean shot. He says she did, but then Lloyd put his hands up and tossed away the knives he had. However he continued to struggle with officers as they tried to get hand cuffs on him. There was some concern that he could get access to a rifle the officer had and possibly fire it. Luckily that never happened. The officer told of firing a taser, but said it wasn’t effective because only one of the probes struck Lloyd.
The defendant told him after in custody, “You should have shot me.” He at times during this altercation indicated he wanted them to shoot him because he didn’t want to go back to jail.
The defense did ask for a mistrial after a juror in the case was reportedly approached by the defendants stepfather in a local restaurant. That juror apparently reported it, but Judge Trish Rose denied the defense request.
The case is expected to wrap up Thursday morning with the two sides giving their closing arguments.