A Shawnee man could serve the rest of his life in prison for the murders of his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child.
On July 15, Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan of Johnson County District Court handed down the sentence to Doniel L Sublett Jr., 30, of Shawnee, for two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.
He will serve them both concurrently without the possibility of parole for 50 years.
On Sept. 21, 2022, Sublett was charged with the murder of Kathleen Dampier, 25, his then-girlfriend. Later, a charge of murder was added for Dampier’s unborn child, when an autopsy found that she was pregnant.
The murder occurred in Shawnee
On Sept. 18, 2022, prosecutors say Sublett shot and killed Dampier at Westbrooke Glen Apartments in the 7400 block of Flint Street in Shawnee.
Police discovered Dampier’s body while responding to a 911 call from a man in the apartments. The man repeatedly asked for an ambulance to respond, then ended the call without providing any other details, according to a previous Johnson County Post report.
“As the first officer arrived on scene, they heard the sound of possible gunshots from inside the apartment building and observed a person attempting to leave,” the Shawnee Police Department said in a news release at the time.
Spotting a man later identified as Sublett outside the apartment, police were able to arrest him at the scene without incident.
“Alexa’s Law” added the second murder charge
Originally charged with one count of first-degree murder, an additional charge was included after an autopsy discovered Dampier was pregnant.
The additional charge was the result of Alexa’s Law, a Kansas statute that allows for charges, up to and including murder, when an act of violence against a pregnant person impacts the fetus.
Dampier was already the mother of three when she was killed, according to a report by the Kansas City Star.
The Post’s request for comment from her family through a victim advocate was not returned by the time this story was published.
Sublett Jr. will serve a “Hard 50”
Sublett Jr will serve the two life sentences concurrently, according to a press release by the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.
He will serve a “Hard 50,” the release stated, which means he will not be eligible for parole until he serves 50 years of his sentence.
An attorney for Sublett Jr. could not be reached for comment for this story.
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