Alva Review-Courier -

MEDICINE LODGE, Kansas – The future jury trial of Barber County Undersheriff Virgil “Dusty” Brewer, charged with involuntary manslaughter, will not take place in the Barber County Courthouse in Medicine Lodge.

The venue and date of the trial have not been determined.

Brewer pleaded not guilty early this year to the state’s charge of involuntary manslaughter in the 2017 fatal shooting of the unarmed Steven Myers in Sun City. Brewer was unsuccessful in attempting to have the State of Kansas v. Virgil Brewer dismissed, but on Wednesday, District Judge Francis Meisenheimer granted Brewer’s request for a change of venue.

In October 2017, law enforcement was summoned when Myers, who had been drinking, was ordered out of Buster’s Bar in Sun City. He had a gun and uttered threatening language.

Myers was no longer at the scene when officers arrived, and a search was conducted. Barber County Sheriff Lonnie Small spotted Myers in a shed behind a house, and Myers was ordered to come out. Myers was told to stop as he walked toward law enforcement.

Brewer told Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents that Myers did not stop and continued to walk. Barber County deputy Mark Suchy’s body camera, though, showed that Myers stopped. Brewer was not wearing a body camera.

Myers fired a “less-than-lethal” beanbag from a 12-gauge shotgun at Myers. The beanbag was not ammunition supplied by the Barber County Sheriff’s Department, but Brewer, formerly in law enforcement in Freestone County, Texas, brought it from Texas. It was fired from an estimated distance of 8 to12 feet. Myers died at the scene.

Brewer is on non-paid administrative leave with the Barber County Sheriff’s Department.