Douglas County child sex crimes case ends after defendant’s suicide

Kurt Pisocki, 58, of Lawrence, died by suicide Tuesday before a scheduled plea hearing in Douglas County District Court, ending a child sex crimes case before any plea could be entered in open court. Prosecutor Megan Ahsens said Pisocki had left a note, but she did not disclose its contents. Judge Stacey Donovan, presiding at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center in Lawrence, told family members in the courtroom, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Pisocki had been facing four counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, all tied to conduct involving the same child victim under 14 between July 1, 2024, and Jan. 30, 2025. Under Kansas law, aggravated criminal sodomy involving a victim under 14 is an off-grid person felony when the offender is 18 or older. Kansas Supreme Court precedent in State v. Bello also recognizes off-grid versions of aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child when the victim is under 14 and the offender is an adult. Those charges carried the possibility of life sentences if he had been convicted.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office arrested Pisocki on Feb. 5, 2025, at his home in the 3300 block of Iowa Street. He was later released on a $250,000 own-recognizance bond and placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring.

His death stops the criminal process before the court could take the plea, enter a conviction or move to sentencing. That also ends any plea-based resolution in open court and any restitution order tied to a criminal judgment.

Douglas County District Court is the state district court for the Seventh Judicial District, which handles criminal cases in Douglas County, including Lawrence, Baldwin City and Eudora.