Violent offender headed to trial for failing to register in Douglas County

Douglas County prosecutors moved one of the county’s most closely watched violent-offender cases toward trial Wednesday after saying Devontae Deshon Rae Torres had fallen out of compliance with Kansas registration rules for more than a year and a half.

Senior Judge Nancy Parrish ordered Torres to stand trial on two counts of aggravated violation of the Kansas Offender Registration Act, each a severity level 3 person felony. Prosecutors said Torres had not reported since July 2024, despite rules that require violent offenders to appear in person four times a year and to update the state within three business days of moving into a county or changing residence, employment or school status.

The registration case is tied to Torres’ earlier conviction in Douglas County District Court. In November 2022, he pleaded no contest to felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, specifically a pit bull, after prosecutors said he tackled a man, punched him and ordered the dog to bite him during a chaotic Lawrence attack. The conviction placed him on the violent-offender registry, the system Kansas uses to track people convicted of certain sex, violent and drug offenses.

At the preliminary hearing, an offender-registration clerk testified that Torres had missed the reporting schedule required by state law. Kansas law says an aggravated violation becomes a severity level 3 felony, and it also treats a continuing violation as a new offense every 30 days, with aggravated violation triggered after more than 180 consecutive days. That structure means the state can stack serious penalties when a registrant stays out of contact for months.

Defense attorney Razmi Tahirkheli argued that Torres had taken up residence in Missouri, where registration rules differ. Prosecutors said no evidence was presented that he actually lived there and noted that even if he had crossed the state line, he still was required to notify Kansas authorities. A Douglas County deputy testified that Torres was arrested on the warrant in Shawnee County by the Kansas Highway Patrol and did not have valid identification showing a Missouri address.

The hearing ended with a plea offer off the table. Prosecutors said they had previously offered Torres a deal on two Level 6 felonies, but that offer would be withdrawn after the case was bound over for trial. Torres was then taken into custody again on another warrant as he left the courtroom.

The case returns attention to the purpose of Kansas’ offender-registration law, which is designed to give the public access to information about people with serious violent histories while giving law enforcement a way to monitor where they live and whether they remain reachable.