TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly and legislative leadership approved Thursday a $150,000 settlement in a lawsuit stemming from a 2023 killing in a state prison.
Gary Raburn’s cellmate killed him in January 2023 at the Lansing Correctional Facility, and Raburn’s brother and daughter sued the state of Kansas, the Kansas Department of Corrections and the state’s prison health care provider, Centurion of Kansas.
In a closed-door meeting, the State Finance Council voted unanimously to offer public funds to confidentially settle one piece of the case that allows Centurion, and only Centurion, to avoid a jury trial scheduled for July 2025.
The finance council consists of Kelly and top legislators, including Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins. They approved the settlement Thursday without disclosing any details of the case or terms of the agreement. The motion to settle was filed Wednesday, and a judge hadn’t yet approved the motion as of Thursday afternoon, according to court records.
Raburn was 62 years old at the time of his death. He was serving time for violating the Kansas Offender Registry Act, which was a condition of his probation after he pleaded guilty to a 2005 aggravated kidnapping charge in Neosho County and failed to register multiple times.
His cellmate, Ladarious Barkers, was serving a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to charges connected to robbing and beating a priest in Kansas City, Kansas, as a 19-year-old.
The lawsuit said prison staff disciplined Barkers 100 times between March 2017 and the attack on Raburn. It alleges the state, the Department of Corrections and Centurion acted negligently and failed to protect Raburn and other inmates.
“Despite foreknowledge of Barkers’ extensive violent history, Defendants assigned Barkers to a cell with Raburn, who was approximately 37 years older than Barkers and physically infirm,” court records allege.
Prosecutors charged Barkers in March 2023 with capital murder. He pleaded not guilty, and the case was scheduled to go to trial in March. However, Barkers’ mental status appeared to be in question. Court records indicate he has been waiting to be admitted to Larned State Hospital since the trial was postponed. If convicted by a unanimous jury, Barkers could face the death penalty.
Mike Atkinson, an Oklahoma-based lawyer representing Raburn’s surviving family, declined to comment because of confidentiality provisions embedded in the settlement agreement.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach recommended the $150,000 settlement amount to the finance council. The state’s tort claim fund is housed under the attorney general’s budget.
The governor’s office, Department of Corrections and Attorney General’s Office didn’t respond to Kansas Reflector’s requests for comment.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus 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 Twitter.
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