Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel scheduled for plea, sentencing in battery charges next month
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Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel, who was arrested and charged with battery in May for allegedly kicking a student while substitute teaching, is scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing next month.
Samsel, a Wellsville Republican, appeared in Franklin County District Court Monday. His attorney Chris Scott said he was “close” to reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors but “there’s a just a few things we’re ironing out.”
The parties agreed to schedule a plea and sentencing hearing for Sept. 13. Prosecuting attorney Brandon Jones said Samsel’s alleged victims may address the court if the sentencing and plea move forward at that time.
Samsel faces three misdemeanor battery charges following his arrest in April that involved two victims, both approximately 16 years old. He was accused of kicking a student and videos showed him talking to a class about about God, religion, lesbianism, masturbation and suicide.
Each misdemeanor charge carries up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
In a court hearing last week, attorneys indicated they were moving closer to a possible plea agreement.
On Aug. 4 Samsel announced on Facebook that he had given up his substitute teaching license and sought mental health treatment. He called the classroom incident an “isolated episode of mania with psychotic features” prompted by “extreme stress, pressure and agitation.”
The comments were a departure from the defiant posture he took in the days immediately following the incident. At the time, Samsel said he “didn’t do anything wrong” but that he was also “truly sorry that this has caused pain and confusion.”
Samsel lost his seat on the Missouri Valley College board of trustees, his alma mater, the week after his arrest. He graduated from the private liberal arts college in Marshall in 2007 with a degree in business administration and political science.
During an interview with investigators shortly after the incident, Samsel described a chaotic classroom with misbehaving students and said he had begun to lose his temper a little bit, according to an affidavit used to charge him in Franklin County District Court. The students had Samsel at his “wit’s end,” he told the officers.
Samsel said he “barely grabbed” one student and told the student to give him space and said he had heard the student had a bruise.
“He then stated, ‘I would honest to God never do anything to hurt him.’ Mark thought maybe (redacted) bruises ‘softly’ but ‘God works in mysterious ways,’” the affidavit says.
Students in the classroom interviewed by police described fearing Samsel and worrying he would harm them.
The affidavit alleged he kicked and bruised one student and grabbed another by the shoulders.
In May, Samsel pleaded not guilty to the charges and a judge ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.
