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By DAVID SEATON
Staff Writer

The extensive arrest record of the man accused of raping and murdering Jodi Sanderholm has raised questions about why he wasn't in jail at the time of the alleged crimes or didn't receive more penalties for past offenses.

The family of Sanderholm has complimented the police agencies involved in the search and investigation that led to Justin Thurber's arrest last week.

He is being held on $1 million bond for murder, rape and aggravated kidnapping in the disappearance and death of Sanderholm, a 19-year-old Cowley College student.

But questions about Thurber's past criminal record have been raised in the community and are common on Internet message boards.

A person with the user name, S23246G, on the Traveler's Web forum, posted the following last week.

"... if our justice system had worked as it should, then Thurber would have been in jail, and not free to stalk and murder innocent young girls."

Hindsight

Local authorities say they understand why people are seeking answers to how such a horrible crime could have been prevented, but the justice system is not that simple.

Thurber's arrest history was for minor crimes and nobody could have predicted what he is accused of today, they said.

Cowley County Attorney Chris Smith said that if he had to pick 20 people in the county he thought could have committed a crime like this, Thurber would not have been one of them.

"He made the decision," Smith said. "He planned this and made the decision to commit this crime."

Thurber's attorney, Tim Frieden of Wichita, declined to comment on Thurber's guilt or innocence. He said he wished people would not slant their view of this case based on what Thurber may or may not have done in the past.

"My preference would be everybody quit talking about it, and let the justice system take place," Frieden said.

Smith, and Interim Ark City Police Chief Sean Wallace, said the blame lies with Thurber. Wallace said the public should try to stop spreading blame.

"I think it would help the healing process," he said. "Hindsight is twenty,-twenty."

Hospital not jail

In an interview last week, Wallace addressed the issue of why Thurber did not go to jail when he was questioned for disorderly conduct and impersonating an officer in Ark City a week before Sanderholm disappeared.

Thurber, 23, started to hyperventilate and complain of chest pains, Wallace said. Police know that suspects can feign illness when being arrested, but they have to respond to apparent medical problems, he said.

So Thurber was taken to the South Central Kansas Medical Center Jan. 1 for treatment. A policeman could have stayed at the hospital to arrest Thurber upon release.

But the crimes in question -- disorderly conduct and false impersonation -- are both class B misdemeanors and nonviolent, Wallace said.

The lieutenant in charge that day made the right call to let Thurber go and arrest him later, he said. Had Thurber been arrested and then taken to the hospital while in custody, the police department and taxpayers could have gotten stuck with the bill under state law, he said.

"It was a non-violent misdemeanor," Wallace explained. "It just made logical sense. We'll file this with county attorney and we'll pick him up on a warrant later."

Even if he had been arrested right away, the crimes carry a $750 bond, so Thurber would have been released had he come up with $225, Wallace noted.

"This is not something that would have kept him in jail for a long time," Wallace said.

Five days after he was taken to the hospital, Thurber is alleged to have abducted and killed Sanderholm.

Police eventually did pick up and jail Thurber Saturday, Jan. 6, on a bond revocation from a theft charge in Winfield, and on the impersonation charge.

It takes time to obtain an arrest warrant, Wallace said. By Saturday, their suspicions about the young man had grown.

The arrest warrant "was signed on Saturday," he said. "In fact that's faster than it normally would have happened, because we pushed it through with the county attorney and he complied with that."

County attorney Smith asked for a high bond amount -- $33,000 total -- to keep Thurber in custody while police continued their investigation.

Wallace said it also was probably a good thing that Thurber was behind bars by then, because some people might have wanted to hurt him.

Minor crimes

Smith, interviewed this week, addressed Thurber's previous criminal record.

He said that Thurber's crimes were all minor and did not show a violent history.

According to court records, he was arrested on six different occasions for 14 crimes, two of them felonies, since January of 2004. A judge tossed out those two felony charges for lack of evidence, court records show.

"Every time we deal with a case, it is taken on a case by case basis," Smith said. "With Mr. Thurber, we had individual who had a bunch of low-level crimes. Every one of those were dealt with."

Winfield attorney Jennifer Passiglia represented Thurber is several cases. She declined to comment.

In April of 2004, Thurber was convicted of attempted criminal trespass in Ark City and sentenced to 28 days in jail, but the sentence was remitted if he paid $117 in court costs and $225 in attorney's fees, court records show.

In September of 2004, he received six months of probation after pleading guilty to criminal damage to a coin machine in Winfield. The county attorney dismissed a charge of theft in that same case, records show.

Thurber violated probation for nonpayment of fines and for testing positive for marijuana. He was sentenced to jail and put on work release, an attorney familiar with the case said.

Several months later, in June of 2005, he was arrested in Winfield for obstructing the legal process of official duty and disorderly conduct. The incident involved altercations at two downtown bars, police said. They used a Taser gun to subdue Thurber.

The disorderly conduct charge was dismissed by the county attorney's office; he was placed on diversion for the obstruction charge.

The diversion agreement required several actions on Thurber's part, including that he not violate any laws, that he attend school or work regularly, and that he report to the county attorney's office regularly for 12 months.

"Diversion is a very powerful tool," Smith said. "It gives a strong incentive to get something done."

Five months after that arrest, he was arrested on five charges in Ark City, including felony burglary and forgery.

Judge James Pringle dismissed those two charges for lack of evidence, leaving theft, possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The county attorney filed a motion to revoke his diversion because of the arrests, but the diversion was not revoked because he had not yet been found guilty.

The court determined that Thurber completed the diversion agreement and the obstruction charge was dismissed Nov. 28 of last year.

The theft and drug case was continued several times and still has not been decided. Last week Pringle included it with the murder and other charges.

The attorney familiar with Thurber's cases told the Traveler that, prior to the murder charge, the theft charge was being dismissed and that Thurber was headed for diversion on the drug charges.

Smith said it is not uncommon for somebody to receive probation and diversion more than once. Defendants are often required to get help, for drugs and alcohol, for instance, or other social needs.

"A lot of time diversion will be used so we can actually get a longer period of supervision," he said.

After he was placed in jail on the impersonation charge -- while police investigated Sanderholm's disappearance -- two women filed restraining orders against Thurber, claiming he had stalked them.

Police also had received complaints about Thurber's interest in members of the Cowley College Tigerette danceline team before Sanderholm was killed, but no charges or restraining orders came from them.

Smith said that had stalking orders been granted and Thurber had violated them, he could then have been arrested on a felony charge and spent some time in jail.

Another accusation

Thurber was accused, but not charged, for allegedly holding two people against their will and exposing himself to them in April, according to the Cowley County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators accused Thurber of criminal restraint, endangering a child and lewd and lascivious behavior, and turned their report over to the county attorney's office, records show.

The Traveler could not obtain a copy of the entire police report by press time Thursday, but KAKE TV News said the report states that Thurber was speaking to a woman through an 11-year-old translating the conversation; an argument ensued and Thurber drove them in his car farther away from town. The two also told authorities that Thurber exposed himself to them, the station reported.

The females eventually jumped from the car and called police from a nearby home, the station reported

The case was turned over to Smith's office but there was not enough evidence to file charges, he told the Traveler Wednesday.

The case needed more investigation, he said. One of the problems was that just one individual was interviewed, he said. The report also did not show enough evidence of lewd and lascivious behavior.

The case would have been he-said, she said, Smith added.

Undersheriff Don Read said that under normal circumstances, the department turns over reports to the County Attorney's office. Sometimes the office asks for more investigation.

Read said he checked Thursday and no such requests had been made.

Thurber could have spent a few months behind bars had he been convicted of aggravated child endangerment, Smith said but, "there just wasn't enough to charge," he said.

Wallace, the Ark City police chief, said his department had nothing to do with the case but that he read the investigation report and "it was a pretty good investigation," Wallace said.

Police and sheriff deputies "have no control over what he prosecutes," Wallace said. "That's his decision."

Smith said he understands that every decision his office made about Thurber is going to be scrutinized because of the heinous nature of the crime.

But he said he follows national standards of prosecution.

"I'm not going to charge a case unless I believe there's a reasonable likelihood of conviction," he said. "We don't just charge a case out of vindictiveness."