Dana Chandler will not be granted a new trial
TOPEKA (KSNT) - After an appeal hearing at the Shawnee County courthouse on Tuesday, March 22, Dana Chandler will not be granted a new trial.
Chandler, who was found guilty of shooting and killing her ex-husband and his fiancé, appeared in front of a Shawnee County judge on Tuesday in an attempt to be granted a new trial. Chandler was given a hard deadline of Friday, March 21 to put a motion for a new trial in the mail.
She claimed that she put her motion in the mail on that date, even playing phone recordings of her saying she did just that. That was until video evidence from the jail showed that she lied and put it in on Sunday, March 23. When testifying at the hearing, Chandler admitted to onto it in her cell.
She said that she didn't want to risk someone taking it out, and that it shouldn't matter since the mail wasn't going to be picked up until Monday, March 24.
"If it didn't matter, then why did she testify that she did it on the 21st," Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay said. "On March 20th, there was a hearing in this case, and Ms. Chandler had every opportunity to ask for an extension of time if she wanted to. She knew the deadline was on the 21st. We presented evidence that showed that she knew. She testified that she did it on the 21st, and then when confronted with irrefutable evidence from the jail that she had not done it on the 21st, that's when she changed her story."
Chandler's sentencing will take place on Tuesday, June 3 in Pottawatomie County.
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