Candidate selector: Leavenworth County Attorney / LJWorld.com

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2008 race for Leavenworth County Attorney

Candidate selector Leavenworth County Attorney

Welcome to our candidate selector for Leavenworth County Attorney. It's a fun and educational tool that can help you decide which candidate(s) you agree with the most.

Here's how it works. Below, we've listed a set of issues and the candidates' positions on these issues. Check the box next to a candidate's response if you agree with it. After you're done, we'll tell you which candidate(s) you agreed with the most.

Please note that this is meant to be fun and educational - but shouldn't necessarily be used as the de facto way of making such an important decision. We encourage you to learn as much as you can about each candidate.

Why are you running for this position?

My family has called Leavenworth home for the past 150 years. I have decided to run for county attorney to make my home a safer place. Crime is too high. While I was able to enact positive change for Leavenworth County's youth, I want to work on making the same changes for the entire county.

I am running for county attorney to continue to provide experienced, top-quality prosecution for the citizens of Leavenworth County as I have for the past 24 years. Leavenworth County has become more and more a part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and the ease of travel across all parts of the metro area require a prosecutor with the knowledge and skill to prosecute and evaluate all levels and types of criminal activity. I have devoted my life to prosecuting serious criminal cases and to serving the citizens of our county to the best of my ability.

What's your top priority for the county, if elected?

My top priority is improving the communication between the county attorney's office, the law enforcement and the community. This communication has been poor, and it's impossible for the law enforcement to continue to develop good cases for the county attorney's office if they aren't informed of what is transpiring with their cases. The community also needs to be informed. Victims must be informed why the county attorney's office is making the decisions they're making. Both the law enforcement and community need to have faith and trust in the county attorney's office. Without the proper communication, the faith and trust fails.

It's important to keep a proper objective approach to evaluating facts and evidence gathered by investigative agencies and making formal decisions on how to properly apply the resources, both in manpower and dollars, to accomplish what each prosecutor is ethically bound to seek, which is justice. My continued goal is, as it has always been, to seek justice in every case, for all of the parties involved without bias or prejudice regardless of the presence of outside pressures or influence. We should all seek to resolve the criminal cases which we present so that the outcome is just and fair.

What steps would you take to more effectively combat the county's crime rate and put criminals behind bars?

Each case presents unique sets of facts and personalities. As a prosecutor you must be able to make judgments on each case as to what the evidence will prove and what sanctions are available under the law to hold the criminal offender accountable for his/her actions. The state utilizes a sentencing grid, which mandates to the courts what level of punishment is proper for each offense. Not all crimes are punishable by incarceration. As a prosecutor you need the experience and dispassionate judgment to apply the law to each case and seek incarceration when available and rehabilitation when appropriate. This approach has and will provide a proper deterrent to crime.

I will work to combat the county's crime rate by limiting the number of deals the county attorney's office makes with repeat and serious offenders. Too many criminals are being allowed to take lesser punishments, and this is making our community unsafe. Further, I will appoint one of the attorneys in the office to oversee that all cases coming in throughout the week get immediate and prompt attention. This attorney will assure that each case receives the necessary attention necessary to best prepare it for trial.

What leadership, administrative and interpersonal skills do you possess?

I have been the assistant county attorney head of the Juvenile Division. Not only have I worked with my own staff, but I worked with and created strong relationships with our law enforcement officers. I am endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police Troop 19 and former Police Chief Lee Deohring. I also worked with many other agencies such as the community corrections and probation departments, SRS, KVC, CASA, and several other organizations to help better the community. I am also on the board and president of the Leavenworth County Bar Association, an organization for local lawyers.

During my time as Leavenworth County attorney I have always been able to successfully communicate with the judges and court personnel in our county and with multiple investigative agency administrators at the state and local level. During that tenure I've grown the office from a part-time prosecutor staff of four attorneys to a full-time staff of well-qualified and experienced attorneys and an excellent and well-qualified support staff while keeping expenditures to a bare minimum. My staff's implemented one of the first data-driven paperless systems in the state and has been invited to train other jurisdictions in Kansas and nationally.

What will you do to keep the community abreast of cases of interest?

As each case is filed through the court system, it is assigned to a victim/witness officer with the office that keeps in continual contact with the crime victim to keep them informed as to the status of the case, court dates and procedures and provide them with information as the resources that are available through state and local agencies that can provide aid. At the same time, the victim/witness staff provides factual information as it's available in response to media inquires. Not all information on active cases is available for the release until it's been presented as evidence in court.

I plan to reallocate the existing resources in the office to create a communications liaison. This person will be in charge of ensuring the community knows what the county attorney's office is doing and in turn what the community wants and needs from the office. As for the victims, this will require working with the attorneys and staff in the office to ensure this communication is happening. While meeting members of the community, law enforcement and victims have told me they are not receiving communication on what is transpiring with their cases. These communication efforts could be improved dramatically.

What is your view on negotiating pleas with criminal defendants?

Negotiating pleas is a necessary evil. While I would like to believe that we could win every case, there are times where it is in the county attorney's office and the community's best interest to negotiate a plea. That being said, I believe that currently too many pleas are being made. While we can't prosecute every case, we need to limit the number of times we allow repeat offenders to plea down their charges. Too many plea agreements present a serious safety issue for the community, and safety needs to be our top priority.

Plea negotiations should only be entered into when they provide a benefit to the victim and the state and still hold the criminal offender accountable for his/her acts. Although it may sound appealing to promote a no plea bargaining policy, it is also totally unrealistic. Our court system could accommodate about 30 jury trials per year if operating at maximum capacity. This level of trial activity comes with a hefty price tag, which impacts the district court, investigating agencies and the prosecutor's office, all of which are funded by taxpayers' dollars. Prudent judgment must be made as to which cases can be plea-bargained and which ones must proceed to a trial.

What differentiates you from your opponent?

As a prosecutor I have tried more than 80 jury trials, including over 20 homicide cases, one of which included a successful murder prosecution where the body of the victim was never recovered. I've successfully presented serious nonhomicide cases involving, among others, a serial rapist sentenced to 155 years - the longest sentence in Leavenworth County history. I've also argued more than 120 appeals before the Kansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, as well as the Federal District Court of Kansas and the Federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. My opponent has tried one jury trial, a misdemeanor case against a defendant who represented himself. He hasn't prosecuted an adult felony jury trial and has never briefed nor argued any appellate cases.

The status quo seems to be more than acceptable in our county attorney's office. I'm ready to work to create a much needed change in that environment. I see a problem with crime rates in Leavenworth County and want to work to transform our community into the home I remember as a child. I have energy and passion, and most importantly, I have the knowledge, dedication and support of the people to make this change happen. Our crime rate is going in the wrong direction, and I believe our community deserves more than continuing with the status quo.

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