LEAWOOD ? The father of a young woman slain in this Kansas City suburb three years ago says he doesn’t want her case involved in next year’s race for attorney general.

Days after switching parties and announcing plans to seek the Democratic nomination for attorney general, Johnson County Dist. Atty. Paul Morrison said he would not seek the death penalty for Benjamin Appleby, who is accused of killing Ali Kemp.

Kemp’s father, Roger Kemp, expressed his disappointment with the decision, which prompted questions from at least one Republican.

But in an interview with The Kansas City Star for a story published Wednesday, Roger said: “I flat out will not get involved in any political campaign, period. I don’t want Ali involved.”

“I’m not going there,” Kemp said, adding that he knows both Morrison and Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, a Republican who is expected to seek re-election, “and I just don’t want to be a pawn in the political game.”

Kemp acknowledged that his daughter’s case could still end up being referred to in advertisements.

“I don’t have any control over that, but it would be a real shame if that happens,” he said.

Although Morrison called the crime “incredibly heinous,” he said Ali Kemp’s killing did not meet the criteria for the death penalty. Appleby was charged with capital murder because Kemp was killed during an attempted rape. The death penalty is possible on such a charge, but only if there are aggravating factors that Morrison said were not met.

The decision was attacked by Rep. Eric Carter, R-Overland Park, who said Morrison should have allowed a jury to decide if Appleby deserved the death penalty. Morrison said he wouldn’t pursue a death sentence he knew would be overturned on appeal.

Kline spokesman Whitney Watson said Wednesday that the attorney general’s office had not and would not comment on Morrison’s decision.

In his unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2000, Kline used a commercial featuring the parents of Stephanie Schmidt, a Pittsburg State University student killed seven years earlier. The ad accused Rep. Dennis Moore – a Democrat who preceded Morrison as Johnson County district attorney – of being soft on prison terms for sexual predators.

Gene and Peggy Schmidt now say they regret making the commercial.

“I naively thought it wasn’t a political thing,” said Gene Schmidt, who in 2003 was hired by Kline to be the state’s coordinator for victim’s rights. He left that job after 18 months, saying Kline had lost interest.

“Phill Kline has never stopped campaigning,” Schmidt said. “He still hasn’t.”

Peggy Schmidt said she and her husband received hate mail and angry phone calls because of the commercial, and that they were left in a “deep depression” after the campaign.

“We thought we were doing the right thing,” she said. “It was very difficult and very hurtful.”

Watson, Kline’s spokesman, also said the attorney general was unavailable for comment because he was preparing for a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Gene was a good advocate for victims in the state while he was here. He is a good friend of the office and we wish him the best,” Watson said.