TOPEKA (KSNT) – Dana Chandler received her sentence Tuesday after a jury found her guilty of killing her estranged husband and his fiancé two decades ago.
Judge Cheryl Rios in Pottawatomie County delivered Chandler’s sentence on June 3. She sentenced Chandler to two life sentences for the deaths of Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness without the possibility of parole for 50 years. The sentences are to be served consecutively.
“In the end, justice was served,” said Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay after the sentence was delivered on June 3.
A jury delivered a guilty verdict in her double-murder case on March 7 this year for her role in the deaths of Sisco and Harkness in 2002. The couple was found dead in their bed after being shot multiple times.
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Chandler was first arrested in 2011 and later convicted in 2012, receiving a life sentence for causing the deaths of Sisco and Harkness. However, the Kansas Supreme Court later overturned the verdict after it was found the prosecutor in the case lied to the jury.
Another jury failed to reach a verdict on the case in 2022 during a second trial. Chandler was released on bond in October that year, posting bail for $350,000.
A third trial was scheduled, this time in Pottawatomie County in 2025. Chandler fired her defense lawyers just before this trial began, with her children and other relatives later testifying in the case.
Two of Chandler’s sisters were involved in a rollover crash during the trial, with one dying as a result of the incident. Chandler’s trial entered recess as a result of the deadly crash.
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The jury deliberated for only a few hours before giving out its guilty verdict in March. Kagay spoke to the media shortly after the trial’s end, discussing some of the evidence that was used to reach the verdict.
While the possibility of a fourth trial was put forward in March, Chandler’s sentencing moved forward. Her court case has garnered national attention with a “Dateline” episode called “Deadly Obsession” being posted in April this year.
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