Kansas City, Mo. ? The public defender for a man who was repeatedly stunned by Kansas City police with a Taser gun claims deleted footage from the incident should be grounds for dismissing two felonies charged against the suspected car thief.

Kansas City Police Department Chief Jim Corwin has been ordered by a Jackson County judge to appear in court Nov. 22 to explain why the video from an in-car police camera was edited before it was given to attorneys.

Assistant Jackson County Public Defender Leon Munday said the full-length video of the Aug. 10, 2004, arrest shows police illegally interviewing Matthew Butt after he was arrested for first-degree tampering with a truck that was reported stolen and resisting arrest. Munday said the unedited police video that was turned over to both sides last month also shows Butt, 24, asking for a lawyer.

Police department attorneys said in a written response to the court order that the final minutes of the tape were edited at the discretion of the department’s attorneys because it “constituted a personnel matter” with the two officers who were ultimately fired for their actions. The department’s attorneys said the footage was “unrelated to any criminal acts committed by Butt.”

“It’s not a good argument on their part,” Munday said. “The idea that someone would sit down and make a conscious decision to edit the tape is outrageous. That violates our client’s liberty of due process. I don’t think this should be able to go forward.”

Circuit Judge John Torrence denied the defense’s motion to dismiss the case on Thursday. Munday said Butt’s next court appearance will happen after the police chief testifies next month. Torrence was out of town on business Friday and could not be reached for comment.

The Kansas City Police Department has denied any “willful disobedience,” as Torrence charged in his order for Corwin to appear in court to explain the editing. In their response, police attorneys cited Missouri law that allows records relating to employee discipline to be closed by the Board of Police Commissioners.

Department spokesman Sgt. Tony Sanders said police attorneys could not comment on the case outside of their legal filings.

Munday said he did not know the tape the defense first received had been edited until the missing ending was shown on TV news in July after two officers were fired for their misuse of the stun gun after the suspect was handcuffed.

Voices on the tape, which runs about 12 minutes, are often difficult to interpret, but the video shows an officer attempting to handcuff Butt next to a truck. When the Kansas City man tries to run from police, one of the officers yells “Taser him,” and another officer fires a Taser shot, sending Butt to the ground.

The suspect was then handcuffed and shocked four more times with the device that shoots out 50,000 volts of electricity, the video shows.

Butt has pleaded not guilty to first-degree tampering and felony resisting arrest.

The case is the second time that Kansas City law enforcement’s use of a Taser in 2004 has been scrutinized.

Two Kansas City Police officers were disciplined after they used a Taser to arrest a 66-year-old grandmother who had honked her car horn at police responding to a call.