Follow-up: Lawmaker accused of kicking boy pleads guilty to 3 charges

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A Kansas legislator accused of kicking a high school student in the testicles pleaded guilty Monday to three lesser misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and was placed on a year's probation under a deal with the local prosecutor.

Republican Rep. Mark Samsel also agreed not to use social media for personal purposes or have any contact with the high school student who said he was kicked and another another student who complained of an interaction with Samsel. The lawmaker also agreed to write letters of apology to both students.

Samsel had faced three misdemeanor criminal charges of battery following what the local prosecutor described as “rude, insulting or angry” interactions with two students, during an April 28 art class at the high school in his hometown of Wellsville, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City. One student told a sheriff’s deputy that Samsel had manhandled him and kicked him, according to an affidavit from the deputy. Both students were identified only by initials in court documents; both were born in 2005, making them 15 or 16.

The lawmaker said in a Facebook post last month that “extreme” stress caused him to have “an isolated episode of mania with psychotic features” in a classroom. He disclosed that he was undergoing mental health treatment and surrendered his state substitute teacher's license.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/lawmaker-accused-kicking-boy-pleads-guilty-charges-79993902

Earlier threads:
Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel arrested for battery after physical altercation with student (May 1)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10522505

Follow-up: Kansas House member ordered not to set foot on Wellsville school property for one year (May 16)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10522528

Kansas GOP Lawmaker Kicked Student in the Testicles on 'Instructions From God': Police (May 26)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10522549

Follow-up: Rep, Mark Samsel surrenders teaching license (August 11)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10522651