Topeka homicide cases bring charges, 18-year sentence

Topeka prosecutors have charged Cory L. Johnson, 40, with reckless second-degree murder in the April 12 motorcycle crash that killed passenger Ashley Porter, 38. Johnson was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County jail on Oct. 15 and is held on a $1 million bond. In a separate case, Wynston Amarion James Rice, 20, was charged in October with intentional second-degree murder, aggravated battery and firearm possession by a convicted felon in connection with the May 16 shooting death of Thomas J.D. Brown III, 31, which also injured a woman. Rice was already jailed on an unrelated case when the homicide charges were filed and is held on a $1 million bond; the allegations have not been proven in court.