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Accused Child Killer Admits Guilt

By Brian Hagen

05/26/2016

File Booking Photo of Marcus McGowan

(KAIR)--Guilty.

That's the plea entered by the Atchison man accused of taking a young girl from her home and killing her while engaged in a standoff with police.

According to a joint statement from Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall and Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson, 32-year-old Marcas McGowan entered the plea Thursday, admitting his guilt to the federal charges of one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

The prosecution says McGowan, in his plea, admitted that on July 18th, 2014, he shot and killed the 5-year-old girl after he kidnapped her and exchanged gunfire with police.

That fatal shot was fired on Leavenworth's Metropolitan Avenue, after McGowan's vehicle became ensnared in a work zone. That followed a high-speed pursuit that began in Atchison, crossed into Missouri, and ended in Leavenworth. Authorities say it stemmed from a domestic dispute between McGowan and his girlfriend at her Atchison residence. Threatening her with a gun, prosecutors say McGowan drove off with her daughter as police arrived.

Sentencing for McGowan is set for September 6th, with an agreement having been reached to recommend a life sentence for the kidnapping charge, which is the statutory minimum penalty.

The firearm-related count requires a statutory minimum penalty of 10-years consecutive to the other sentence.

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Comments

Scott (05/27/2016 11:18 AM)

Now that he had admitted guilt stop calling him accused. Call him what he is, a child killer. He should be shot in the head on the courthouse steps.