Man paralyzed in 2013 KC police shooting gets seven years in prison for illegal gun
A Kansas City man who won one of the largest local police settlements after he was shot by KCPD officers in 2013 was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in federal prison for illegal gun possession in a separate incident.
Philippe Lora, 45, was handed the 92-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays following a hearing in Kansas City’s downtown federal courthouse. Lora pleaded guilty last year to a single count of being a felon in possession of a stolen firearm.
In the aftermath of his shooting by Kansas City police, during which he was unarmed, Lora was awarded a $4.8 million settlement that remained shielded from public view for nearly three years. He was shot 20 times when two officers opened fire on a Honda RAV4 that Lora was suspected of stealing, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, his civil attorney has said.
The judge on Tuesday told Lora that, given his criminal history, he fell into the most serious category for the sentencing guidelines.
Lora’s lawyer, Christopher Angles, sought a shorter sentence. He called to the stand Ameet Deshmukh, an emergency medicine physician, who said Lora has worn catheters, used a colostomy bag and suffers from depression and anxiety. Lora, who also has mental health issues, would benefit from care at home from qualified professionals, Deshmukh told the judge.
Angles said there were many reasons Kays could send Lora to prison: he has a “long criminal history” — though most stemmed from his longtime drug addiction — and he has caused problems for correctional staff members. But, he said, Lora was not a typical defendant and described his situation as similar to a lifetime of house arrest.
“It’s hard to imagine the hell he already lives in,” Angles said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Dunning said while the government was mindful of Lora’s medical needs, prosecutors had concerns about his criminal history, which included nine felonies. She noted a recent Platte County charge stemmed from allegations he smoked cocaine from a glass pipe last year at a casino.
Dunning also said prosecutors were worried he only had friends and family taking care of him at home, not medical professionals. They recommended Lora spend no more than 7.6 years in federal prison for possessing the gun, which was discovered on him after he called police to his Kansas City home because he had reported that prowlers may be in the area.
The recommendation was on the lower end of the spectrum: a pre-sentence investigation report calculated that Lora’s sentencing guidelines range from 7.6 to 9.5 years.
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors alleged Lora violated several conditions of pretrial release. They contended prison was necessary, in part, to “provide just punishment for the offense” and to “protect the public from further crimes of the defendant.”
When he spoke, Lora told the judge he was not the same person he was years ago when he committed his crimes. He also said he didn’t know where to start after he was “shot up like this, paralyzed like this.”
The judge, however, told Lora he “undermined” the work of his lawyer through his actions. Kays told Lora he had not wanted to send him to prison, but that his behavior gave him no choice. He called Lora a “danger to the public” and said he should not have guns.
Kays said he would recommend Lora serve his sentence at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield.
Police shooting
The police shooting that left Lora partially paralyzed unfolded in the early morning hours of Nov. 3, 2013.
Officers were called about 1:45 a.m. by a man outside of a store at Independence and Highland avenues in northeast Kansas City who said that he had just been carjacked at gunpoint.
KCPD officers Dakota Merrill and Shane Mellot joined in the search for the vehicle, a 2003 Toyota RAV4, and discovered it in an alley behind a house two miles east of a convenience store. They examined the SUV with guns and flashlights drawn before returning to their squad car, dash camera video from the encounter shows.
Shortly after, once a third officer is on scene, the RAV4’s rear lights were spotted by police. The SUV backed up a few feet then moved forward. Meanwhile, Merrill and Mellot could be seen running after the SUV and firing their guns. The third officer did not shoot.
Lora, the driver, was struck by 20 bullets, said David Smith, his attorney at the time. The officers said they believed a gunshot had come from within the SUV, though no gun was found. Lora was never charged with a crime related to the incident.
The shooting case was presented to a grand jury but no charges were filed against the officers. Merill left the department in July 2019, roughly three years after he was involved in another police shooting that wounded a man.
On Oct. 8, 2016, Merill and another officer were chasing a 2005 Mercury Sable that was suspected in a shooting that unfolded in the 3700 block of Wabash Avenue.
After it was stopped, and officers were approaching the car, it began rolling backwards toward their squad car. The officers opened fire, striking the man inside 16 times.
A lawsuit filed on his behalf later settled for $1.5 million.
Combined, the two shootings cost taxpayers $6.3 million in KCPD legal settlements. At the time, that was about $2 million more than the police department spent on all other settlements combined in the previous two years.
Last year, as they called for a Justice Department investigation into Kansas City police, numerous local civil rights groups pointed to Lora’s shooting as one of numerous examples of excessive force.
Lora’s gun charge
On the afternoon of Jan. 18, 2018, Kansas City police were called to the 2500 block of Tracy Avenue for an emergency call placed by Lora seeking help with “suspicious people inside the caller’s residence.”
Officers met with Lora and were asked to sweep the house to ensure no one was inside, a detective reported in the federal complaint against Lora.
As officers were inside the house, another officer asked Lora if he would consent to being frisked. Lora declined, according to court records, because he was in a wheelchair and had “multiple tubes and bags attached to his body.”
While speaking with the officer, Lora moved around in the wheelchair while looking for a cell phone. The officer saw what appeared to be the grip of a handgun in Lora’s waistband.
The officer removed from Lora’s person a black and silver Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, which had one round in the chamber and five loaded into its magazine. A check of the gun’s serial number found that it had been reported stolen out of Lawrence, police said.
Lora told officers he needed to keep the firearm on him for protection, saying “people knew how much money he had” and that “he didn’t feel safe” otherwise, according to charging documents.
Police reported that Lora had dialed 911 for emergency services 28 times between Dec. 1, 2017, and Jan. 18, 2018, to report suspected prowlers or other calls where the nature was not known to police. He was designated by KCPD as an emotionally disturbed person on the basis that he had reported “seeing people in and around his residence that are not real.”
Lora was arrested three days later for having the firearm because of previous felony convictions in Jackson County, including selling controlled substances and drug trafficking. His most recent conviction was in 2009. During an initial interview with a detective, Lora allegedly admitted to buying the firearm but denied knowing that it was stolen.
In court the next day, a federal judge ordered that Lora be detained in the privately-run CoreCivic prison in Leavenworth ahead of his trial. The decision was made based on the belief that Lora may suffer from a mental condition that would affect his ability to appear in court and his previous criminal record, among other things.
In March 2018, Lora was moved to a federal facility in Arizona after a Leavenworth prison doctor testified that the local facility was not equipped to handle his medical needs. He remained in federal custody for two years, being denied motions for a pretrial release, until his lawyers successfully argued that he be granted bond so that he could remain at home until his court date.
In that motion, Lora’s lawyers argued that he would be better suited to be cared for at home by his family in Kansas City, saying he is “not a danger to the community” and not a flight risk.
“Not only is he physically incapable of fleeing of his own accord, his life depends on staying in this area close to family and friends, and in home health care, to ensure he receives the medical care he needs,” his attorneys wrote.
In March 2020, Lora was subsequently granted a personal recognizance bond, despite objections from prosecutors, and was released pending trial.
The Star’s Glenn E. Rice contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
