TOPEKA — Members of the Kansas satanist group appear to be off the hook for criminal charges that stemmed from a highly anticipated, hotly criticized black mass demonstration at the Statehouse that resulted in clashes with Catholics and, ultimately, their arrests.

Shawnee County prosecutors decided Wednesday not to pursue charges against Michael Stewart, leader of the Satanic Grotto, and two other group members. After the court hearing, Stewart returned to the Statehouse to discuss the details of his next protest with law enforcement.

Attracting nationwide attention, Stewart’s satanic protest in March drew ire from elected and religious officials. Hundreds gathered at the Statehouse in Topeka on March 28, some in support of the satanic organization, which is a nonprofit not affiliated with the Church of Satan, and others in vehement opposition.

About 11:30 a.m., following speeches, prayers, chants and sign-waving on the lawn of the Statehouse in Topeka, Stewart entered the building to perform a satanic ceremony, called the black mass, which can involve desecrating a host. Across the street, a Catholic mass and prayer service took place, where archbishop of Kansas City Joseph Naumann lambasted nonbelievers. Naumann also tried to sue Stewart before the protests, falsely accusing him of stealing a consecrated host.

Stewart had a permit to demonstrate outside on Statehouse grounds and was warned as he entered the building that any protest would violate that permit.

He walked to the first-floor rotunda, accompanied by supporters, reporters and watchful counter-protestors and began a dedication to Satan.

A man and woman with young children interrupted him, physically intervening. Stewart turned away, and then a counter-protestor, Marcus Schroeder, attempted twice to grab papers from Stewart’s hands. On Schroeder’s second reach, Stewart punched him twice in the face before a law enforcement officer took his legs out from underneath him.

Stewart and two supporters were booked in jail and charged with unlawful gathering. Stewart faced an additional charge of disorderly conduct.

At a hearing Wednesday, county prosecutors said they don’t plan to pursue charges at this time, Stewart told Kansas Reflector. However, the statute of limitations lasts five years.

A call to the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office seeking confirmation of the charges was not immediately returned Wednesday.

After the hearing, Stewart traveled a few blocks to the Capitol building, where he talked about plans for a nighttime protest in August with a law enforcement officer to preemptively soothe any concerns.

Planned for early August, Stewart envisions the “Witches Hour Protest” taking place from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the Statehouse’s south lawn.

He plans to extend the invitation to Wiccans, pagans and “any kind of witchy inclined hippie we can find.”

“We’re happy that we’re able to get back at it,” Stewart said.

He added the members of the grotto have been “restless,” as they awaited their fate.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — A pair of House Republicans entertained a hypothetical act of violence toward a former representative Thursday as they acted out a traditional hazing ritual for new legislators.

Wichita Republican Rep. Patrick Penn performed the custom of grilling freshman lawmakers as they present legislation on the House floor for the first time. Rep. Kyler Sweely, a Republican representing Hutchinson who defeated Democratic incumbent Jason Probst in November, was the subject of Penn’s interrogation. Penn and Sweely have a shared history of serving in the U.S. Army in the Middle East and knowledge of the intricacies of combat. During the hazing ritual, with the attention of the full chamber, Penn posed a hypothetical to Sweely. They referred to “that guy from Hutch,” a moniker Probst adopted for his online newsletter.

Penn: “Now when we talk about the commands for firing, what are the components of a firing command?”

Sweeley: “Identifying the target, the direction the target is, the range that the target is, and then the type of ammo that you’re going to use to address the target.”

Penn: “So if I were to come to you and say, I have a firing command, and that command is, ‘Gunner, sabot, that guy from Hutch in the open, fire for effect,’ what would you say?”

Sweeley: “Gunner, sabot, that guy from Hutch.”

Penn: “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you on his maiden voyage here before you as colleagues, that new guy from Hutch.”

Probst, when reached by phone Thursday, chuckled at the exchange.

“Usually I find when people hate you that much and they talk about you that much, they want to be you,” he said.

He could take two interpretations, he said. One, the legislators were alluding to a violent threat, or two, “they’re very pleased with having won the election very narrowly,” Probst said.

“It’s really rewarding to know that I live rent-free in their heads,” Probst said.

Sweely defeated Probst by 294 votes in the November election.

Neither Penn nor Sweely immediately responded to an inquiry from Kansas Reflector. The House Speaker’s office also did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment.

House Democrats expressed indignance and disbelief in response, with some calling on Penn to apologize and for the House Speaker’s office to discipline the legislators.

Rep. Alexis Simmons, a Topeka Democrat, said she told House leadership she expects formal action.

“We routinely hear members of the Republican caucus call points of order on Democratic members for benign, perceived slights because their feelings are hurt,” she said in a text message.

Simmons said the comments were “clearly violent in nature,” and said it would be “not only irresponsible but negligent” to allow them to stand.

“Bottom line, it’s just a ridiculous thing to even suggest shooting a political adversary,” she said.

Immediately following the exchange, some House Democrats exchanged looks of disbelief and caused disruption as they scrambled to confirm the question, “Did he say that?” according to Rep. Ford Carr, a Wichita Democrat.

“Had I known the individual that uttered those words,” Carr said, “there would be talk of disciplinary action and nothing less.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard in a statement denounced “the use of inflammatory rhetoric that incites violence in any form, particularly during a time when attacks on public officials are increasing.”

Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, said political disagreements ought to be addressed at the ballot box. He called the exchange a promotion of political violence.

“This behavior cannot be overlooked,” Woodard said. “Representative Penn must take responsibility for his comments, recognize their inappropriate nature, and offer a sincere apology.”

Penn has served in the House since 2021 and this year is co-sponsoring legislation with more than 60 Republicans to cement the right to own guns, ammunition and firearm accessories in the state constitution.

Penn and Sweely, at different times, were deployed to the Middle East to support Operations Spartan Shield and Inherent Resolve, which included campaigns in Iraq and Syria.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — A federal judge granted a request to delay the trial of a Topeka man who blocked officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building.

William Pope, who is representing himself in the case charging him with federal crimes in connection with his actions on Jan. 6, requested a trial delay on Nov. 8, citing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and concerns over a fair jury.

Trump promised throughout his third presidential campaign to pardon those criminally charged Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol if he were to be reelected. Pope was one of many defendants pursuing case changes following Trump’s win.

Judge Rudolph Contreras for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was sympathetic to Pope’s arguments during a Thursday hearing, which culminated in Contreras granting Pope’s motion to delay the trial.

A new trial date was not set.

Contreras said he’d been considering motions like Pope’s on a case-by-case basis, according to an official transcript of the Thursday hearing.

In his original motion, Pope argued his jury “was the entire American public, and they voted for a mandate to set me free.” He also expressed concerns that his case wouldn’t be heard by a fair jury because the vast majority of D.C. residents voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Contreras said he was focused on the conservation of resources for the case’s parties, the court and any potential jurors or witnesses, according to the transcript.

“I don’t want them to bring in 70 people or so just to have it go for naught, which there’s a real possibility of,” Contreras said. “Of course, it’s speculative, but there is a real possibility of that happening.”

Federal prosecutors opposed any delay. Benet Kearney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said during Thursday’s hearing that the case could be efficiently tried if it proceeded as scheduled. Instead, it was Pope’s “insistence of going down, kind of, a side rabbit hole that has the potential to drag this out,” Benet said.

“And so this is a manufactured situation by the defendant, you know?” she said.

Pope’s case has dragged on since he was indicted in February 2021, jailed in Shawnee County that same month and released on his own recognizance in early March 2021. His July 2024 trial date was delayed to weigh the possible impacts of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that threw out charges against a former Pennsylvania police officer who also participated in the Jan. 6 attack.

The parties are scheduled to meet again in December to set a future trial date.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.

TOPEKA — A Topeka man who blocked officers on Jan. 6, 2021, during an attack on the U.S. Capitol building asked a federal court to delay his trial after Donald Trump won the presidency.

In a motion filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Will Pope asked the judge to delay his trial scheduled for Dec. 2 for three months. Trump promised while on the campaign trail to pardon those criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and Pope is one of several defendants seeking changes to their cases in the wake of Trump’s victory.

“Ultimately, my jury was the entire American public, and they voted for a mandate to set me free,” Pope wrote in his motion.

He also expressed concern that a fair jury trial may not be possible. More than 90% of voters in Washington, D.C., voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the recent presidential election. Those voters “may find it especially difficult to look past those results to serve as fair jurors in my case,” Pope wrote.

He continued: “However, if there should be a jury trial in my case, it should happen after emotions have had time to cool.”

Federal prosecutors opposed any delay in Pope’s trial.

In a Saturday filing, prosecutors said it is in the public interest to issue a ”prompt and efficient administration of justice.”

“No continuance is warranted here,” prosecutors wrote. “At this time, the defendant’s expectation of a pardon is mere speculation, and the Court should proceed as it would in any other prosecution.”

In a response to prosecutors, which also was filed Saturday, Pope argued the government’s administration of justice is not in the public interest, “but a belligerent disregard for the will of the American people.”

“Ultimately,” he said, “I will get the same result with a trial or with no trial.”

Pope, who has represented himself in his case, was indicted by a grand jury alongside his brother on Jan. 8, 2021. They faced eight criminal charges, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and disorderly conduct in a capitol building.

According to an FBI agent’s investigation into the Pope brothers, which used information first reported by Kansas Reflector, a U.S. Capitol Police officer said Pope blocked law enforcement from closing doors as they were trying to prevent others from entering the building despite “repeated verbal orders to leave” and an attempt “to physically grab and push” Pope out.

But Pope “resisted by tensing up and refusing to move,” the agent wrote.

Pope, who ran for Topeka City Council in 2019, said he entered the Capitol “to express their concern about the direction of the nation,” wrote the FBI agent, whose name was redacted.

“Specifically, William Pope explained that questionable things happened during the election and that citizens deserved a full election audit,” the FBI agent wrote.

Pope and his brother were identified in social media posts and videos, and surveillance footage from inside the Capitol building. FBI agents and Topeka Police Department officers arrested Pope on Feb. 12, 2021, at his house in Topeka, according to court documents.

Since then, the case has dragged on.

In June, prosecutors admitted to a “drafting error” that stated Pope had assaulted an officer. He is not charged with any crimes associated with assaulting an officer. In response to the error, Pope accused prosecutors of misconduct and requested sanctions. He subsequently withdrew that request in a June 26 filing.

“I ask that the government in turn begin bestowing mercy on the hundreds of January 6 defendants whose lives are being crushed,” he wrote.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.