LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD — The trial for a 21-year-old man accused of rape and kidnapping was indefinitely delayed on Tuesday, and the man’s bond was modified to house arrest with work release.
The defendant, Tristan Aden James, is accused of raping a fellow student in November 2024 while he was a sophomore at Haskell Indian Nations University. He is alleged to have abducted the woman and raped her in his car, then to have led police on a chase through the city, as the Journal-World reported. The woman testified last spring at James’ preliminary hearing, after which he was ordered to stand trial in March 2026.
On Tuesday, Judge Sally Pokorny was scheduled to hear several pretrial motions in the case — foremost among them a motion to suppress James’ own statements to police following his arrest. However, the parties agreed that Pokorny needed to first view around four hours of video before hearing expert testimony on the matter. To that end, Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal moved for a continuance, and defense attorney Angela Keck did not object.
Keck in turn requested that James be freed from jail to house arrest with GPS monitoring and work release, to which the state did not object.
James will next appear in court on Feb. 18, when a new trial date is expected to be determined.