Empty Fireball bottle & a loaded gun: How a Kansas lawmaker’s DUI arrest went down
When Topeka police arrested state Rep. Carl Maughan on suspicion of driving while drunk in March, officers found inside his vehicle a loaded semi-automatic handgun, an empty bottle of Fireball whiskey and a case of beer with several cans missing, court records show.
In an unsealed affidavit, an arresting officer said they could smell alcohol on the Colwich Republican’s breath when he was arrested in early March on suspicion of possessing a loaded handgun and traffic violations while under the influence. Colwich is in Sedgwick County.
Officer Brian Willyard said he pulled Maughan over for allegedly failing to signal before changing lanes and veering outside of the lane he was traveling in, according to the affidavit, the court document filed in support of the criminal charges in Shawnee County District Court.
“When I contacted him, I observed inside the vehicle an open cardboard box of beer missing multiple cans and there was an odor of an alcoholic beverage on Carl’s breath,” Willyard wrote in the affidavit.
“There was also an open/empty 100 ML bottle of Fire Ball and two open containers in a blue duffel bag in the passenger seat located in the same compartment/zipper as a loaded Silver Taurus PT-111 9MM semi-automatic handgun,” Willyard said.
The details of the arrest were released last week after The Topeka Capital-Journal and KSNT, a local television station, asked District Magistrate Judge Christopher Turner to open the affidavit to the public.
Maughan, a lawyer, is charged with two misdemeanors and two traffic violations: possession of a firearm while under the influence, DUI, failure to signal a lane change and failure to maintain safe passage from a single lane.
Maughan and his defense attorney Thomas Lemon, a Topeka-area attorney, did not respond to a request for comment through email and phone requests.
The arrest happened early March 4 on Southwest Topeka Boulevard near Southwest 29th Street after Willyard saw Maughan’s vehicle veering outside his lane over the single yellow line into the northbound lane, according to court documents.
Willyard said Maughan traveled 7 mph below the 40 mph speed limit, but later accelerated and failed to signal before changing lanes.
Maughan refused the field sobriety test but consented initially to a breath sample. He withdrew that consent after he was taken to the Law Enforcement Center.
Maughan also refused to give a blood sample, Willyard said. Maughan was taken to the University of Kansas Health System St. Francis Campus in Topeka while police obtained a search warrant.
The results of the blood test results have not yet been released. Maughan was booked into Shawnee County Jail.
Maughan is scheduled to appear in Shawnee County District Court at 9 a.m. on June 26.
Release of Affidavit
Turner ordered the release of the affidavit to the public on June 4 following a request by news media.
Attorneys for Maughan asked the judge to seal the affidavit, arguing public access would constitute “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” endanger Maughan and cause irreparable harm if he were later acquitted.
Turner argued that sealing the affidavit was unnecessary, and said the defendant’s arguments did not meet the requirements for justifying the sealing of court documents.
Maughan, who has served in the Kansas House of Representatives since 2023, filed for reelection just weeks after his arrest on March 20.
More than two months later, on May 30, he announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he terminated his reelection campaign “for personal and family reasons.”
His name will remain on the August primary ballot alongside three other Republican candidates because Maughan missed the deadline to have it removed.
