By Steve Fry
Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas)
Copyright 2006 The Topeka Capital-Journal
A Topeka man convicted of killing another motorist during a head-on collision won’t be allowed to change defense attorneys before he is sentenced June 29.
Shawnee County District Judge Nancy Parrish told Victor Anzua-Torres, 28, that he had the right to be represented by a competent defense attorney but not the right to pick his defense attorney.
Richard Jones, a Topeka attorney, was appointed by the court to defend Anzua-Torres and represented him throughout the jury trial that culminated with his convictions.
A jury on April 27 convicted Anzua-Torres of reckless second-degree murder in the death of Ryan Ostendorf, 28, a paramedic who was en route to work when Anzua-Torres’ Cadillac Escalade struck Ostendorf’s Jeep Cherokee head-on.
The jury also convicted Anzua-Torres of reckless aggravated battery (bodily harm) and driving on the left side of the road. Before the trial started, Anzua-Torres pleaded guilty to related charges of driving under the influence and not having a driver’s license.
Parrish told Anzua-Torres she wouldn’t have appointed Jones if he wasn’t a competent attorney.
In a handwritten letter submitted May 15, Anzua-Torres asked Parrish to appoint a new defense attorney to represent him when he is sentenced.
He complained that Jones “performed the barest functions” of his job and failed to maintain communication with Anzua-Torres, the defendant’s letter said.
In the letter, Anzua-Torres wrote that he took responsibility for what he did, “but I do not think that is fair that I be punished for doing what I did with malice. I did not. And Mr. Jones did not defend that point strenuously enough.”
The wreck occurred on Dec. 5 on US-40 highway just east of S.E. Green Road. Ostendorf, of Lawrence, was westbound on US-40, and Anzua-Torres was eastbound in the westbound lane.
A witness testified during the trial that Anzua-Torres’ vehicle overtook her pickup truck, swung into the oncoming lane to pass and collided with Ostendorf’s Jeep at the crest of a hill.
During the trial, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper testified that Anzua-Torres’ blood-alcohol level was 0.26 percent, which is more than three times the 0.08 percent level Kansas law defines as intoxication.
An earlier witness estimated Anzua-Torres was traveling 70 to 80 mph where the posted speed limit is 55 mph.