Kansas judge seals court documents in officer death case

A Kansas judge is sealing some court documents in a case against a Tennessee woman who is charged with murder after a car chase ended in a gas station shootout that left a police officer and another suspect dead.

Johnson County Judge Michael P. Joyce ruled Wednesday that the probable cause affidavits explaining the allegations against Andrea Rene Cothran, 32, of Goodlettsville, would not be released. The Associated Press had filed a formal request seeking them.

In addition to first-degree murder, Cothran also is charged with reckless driving, felony theft, fleeing law enforcement and aggravated battery in connection with the Aug. 6 car chase that ended in a shootout at a QuikTrip store in Mission, Kansas.

The gunfire left Officer Jonah Oswald of the Fairway Police Department and car chase suspect Shannon Wayne Marshall dead. Police said previously that Cothran was a passenger in the fleeing vehicle.

While the state allows probable cause statements to be released, it includes exceptions when they can be withheld. Joyce wrote in his ruling that prosecutors made a good case that the documents did not need to be released because doing so could jeopardize the case and interfere with the investigation or prosecution.