The man charged with killing Kansas City, Kansas police detective Brad Lancaster pleaded guilty in exchange for no death penalty on Tuesday.
RELATED | Det. Brad Lancaster laid to rest in Kansas City, Kansas funeral service and burial
Curtis Ayers of Tonganoxie, Kansas is charged with capital murder in the May 2016 shooting death of Lancaster.
The shooting happened near the Kansas Speedway.
RELATED | KCK detective Brad Lancaster's friend gives his police vest for burial
Sentencing for Ayers is expected March 14, 2017.
Curtis Ayers pleads guilty in shooting death of KCK police detective Brad Lancaster last May. Life w/o parole-No death penalty.
— Cynthia Newsome (@CynthiaNewsome) January 3, 2017
Captain Dave Melton was also shot and killed in 2016. Jamaal Lewis is charged in his death.
Lewis was set to change his plea, but he changed his mind and didn’t appear in court.
Melton’s co-workers, friends and family were in the courtroom Tuesday.
“Crushed us,” Lynn Melton, Dave Melton’s sister-in-law, said. “I mean, we thought he was a man of his word but we should of known he’s a coward. But we’ve got a strong blue line and we’re going to stand hard and we’re going to get him.”
Lewis’s preliminary hearing in March will determine if there’s enough evidence for him to stand trial.
Editor's note: A video previously attached to this story showed a photo that was incorrectly identified as Jamaal Lewis. The video has been removed.
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