Trial is set to begin next week for an Emporia man facing numerous charges after alleged incidents over 18 months ago.
As part of a trial status hearing in Lyon County District Court on Wednesday, Judge Lee Fowler set Monday as the official start date for trial against Daniel Olivarez. Trial could last all next week.
The decision on starting trial followed a ruling Tuesday by Fowler on a motion from defense attorney Rick Meier to enforce a plea agreement in the case. Meier’s motion indicates a plea offer made by prosecutors specifying counts under consideration and “the absence of additional sentencing agreements,” also saying Olivarez could ask for concurrent sentencing — where prison times for multiple convictions can be served simultaneously as opposed to consecutively. Meier says he offered a plea based on the charges, but lead prosecutor Carissa Brinker said the state would not approve the offer after talks with alleged victims in the case. Fowler denied the motion.
Olivarez faces numerous charges after an alleged incident in Emporia in January 2024 and alleged incidents for much of 2023. In general terms, he is accused of holding several people inside an Emporia home at gunpoint, having one of the alleged victims drive him to another location and then forcing a better than three-hour standoff before surrendering to local authorities. He is also accused of illegal sexual activity against a then-10-year-old child between April and December 2023.
Officially, Olivarez is charged with several aggravated-level counts, including residential burglary, kidnapping, robbery, battery, indecent liberties and assault. He also faces several other counts, including kidnapping, criminal threat, interference with law enforcement and violating a protection order.
