TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) — A Kansas lawmaker entered a plea of no contest in late September after being charged with driving under the influence and other crimes following his arrest earlier this year.
Representative Carl Maughan, a Republican representative from Colwich for District 90, pleaded no contest on Sept. 27 to one charge of driving under the influence, according to Shawnee County District Court documents. The court dismissed three other charges against him, including minor traffic infractions and possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Court documents show that the judge then found Maughan guilty of driving under the influence. The judge sentenced him to three months in jail but then suspended the sentence and ordered Maughan to serve six months of unsupervised probation, comply with drug/alcohol evaluation recommendations, and pay $750 in fines and extra court costs.
Maughan was arrested in March 2024 in Shawnee County while the legislature was in session in Topeka. He quickly stepped down from a legislative committee and later issued a statement to KSN’s Kansas Capitol Bureau saying he “exercised poor judgment.” The court filed the charges in May.
In June, the Kansas Supreme Court barred him from practicing law for at least a year for mishandling conflicts of interest in a 2016 Wichita murder case.
KSN spoke to Maughan on Thursday. He said he has been abstaining from alcohol, attending group meetings, and getting treatment through counseling, and he plans to continue along that course.
