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HE CHEATED DEATH

Officer Dan Taylor leaned down inside the ambulance. "Can I do something for you?" he asked fellow officer Derek Purcell, who minutes before had been shot and critically wounded.

"Dan, you can have a priest meet me at the hospital," Purcell said softly.

"Don't be talking like that," Taylor told him.

"I'm not going to die," Purcell said. "I just want a priest at the hospital."

A man on trial for capital murder in the videotaped slaying and sexual torture of a 41-year-old woman will not dispute most of the charges against him, his lawyer said Friday.

But defense attorney Tom Jacquinot said in his opening statement that there will be questions about whether Richard Davis, 43, deliberated before killing Marsha Spicer.

"A confession is a confession," Jacquinot said. "A videotape is a videotape. Nobody is going to come here today and say these things didn't happen."

Davis faces 40 felony counts, including capital murder, kidnapping and rape in the May 2006 death of Spicer, of Independence. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Jackson County prosecutor Ted Hunt said during his opening statement that Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, lured Spicer to his Independence apartment and "did not intend to let her leave alive."

Sometimes in politics, it's not so much what you say as what people hear.

Case in point: the race for Sedgwick County clerk.

Last week, supporters of candidate Sarah Skelton said her opponent, Kelly Arnold, claimed to have an endorsement he doesn't have.

And Arnold supporters said a radio ad by Skelton appeared to imply that she was already the county clerk.

First, Arnold.

Two things you might want to know if you haven't been following the Sedgwick County sheriff's race:

First, in a county that hasn't elected a Democrat to the office in nearly 2 ½ decades, there's a good chance that the next sheriff will be selected Aug. 5 in the Republican primary.

Second, that five-man Republican race appears to be shaping up as a two-way battle between Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw and Deputy Wichita Police Chief Robert Lee. The two have the most name recognition and are spending significant amounts of money on the campaign.

Hinshaw last week began airing television and radio spots that highlight his education and law enforcement experience.

Lee has hired the same campaign manager who helped Carl Brewer win the mayor's race last year. He and his manager, Beth King, are relying heavily on a direct-mail campaign that targets Republicans who are most likely to vote in the primary.

Two Wichita women running for seats in the Kansas Legislature have been sued for debts worth thousands of dollars apiece, according to Sedgwick County District Court documents.

Democrat Inga Taylor, 38, is running for the 84th District House seat in northeast Wichita, which is being vacated by Oletha Faust-Goudeau.

Taylor, a certified medical aide, is opposed in the Democratic primary by Gail Finney, 48, of Wichita, a marketing consultant and vice chair of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party.

Court records show that Taylor has been sued in recent years by a credit card company, a loan company and a mortgage company.

Taylor, reached on Friday, said all the debts have been paid.

State Senate candidate Rex Farley is named in two current stalking protection orders -- one as the defendant and the other as the plaintiff.

"These are personal issues," Farley said. "Everybody has personal issues, and it doesn't affect my ability to serve my constituency."

He is running against incumbent Sen. Carolyn McGinn in the Aug. 5 Republican primary for the 31st District seat. The winner will face Halstead Democrat Gene E. Marsh in November.

Farley, 47, is restricted from entering any QuikTrip where a particular woman is working, or making contact with her. A Sedgwick County District Court judge approved the protection from stalking order April 24. It is slated to be in effect for one year.

In the complaint, the woman, whom The Eagle is not naming, wrote that Farley "began coming to my place of employment at the beginning of my shift, waiting for me to get there, then loitering behind the building. When he came inside, he would corner me. On several occasions, he has asked inappropriate questions."

The Sedgwick County Jail needs more inmate beds, its top administrator says, even if that means the county can't give property owners tax relief.

Sheriff Gary Steed is upset about a recent recommendation by County Manager William Buchanan to halt plans for a $54 million jail expansion and instead reduce the county mill levy by one mill, or $11.50 on a $100,000 home.

"We need more beds," Steed said in an interview Friday. "The potential for lawsuits gets higher with overcrowding. We are not overcrowded right now. There's space in here. But we need more beds."

Steed said the time to expand is now and added that even if the county decides not to add beds, it still will have to spend money on support space. The jail needs more room for medical care, religious programs, renovations and some heating and air conditioning work.

It would make sense to take care of those issues at the same time as an expansion, he said.