photo by: Contributed Photos

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister, left, and Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez.

The Douglas County sheriff proposed to a resident in September that he should file a petition to recall the district attorney after the resident was dissatisfied with a plea agreement in a sexual assault case.

That resident now says he indeed intends to try to remove the district attorney, Suzanne Valdez, from office after a rape charge involving a 10-year old victim was plea bargained down to an aggravated battery conviction. Prosecutors have contended the case was “irreparably damaged by circumstances beyond our control” and the sheriff said he pulled the lead detective from the case over misconduct concerns.

In a text exchange on a social media app on Sept. 28 between the resident, Joel Juelsgaard, and Sheriff Jay Armbrister, the sheriff was asked for advice on what he would do regarding the case. The screenshot, which the Journal-World obtained a portion of and Armbrister later provided more of, said: “Why on earth have you not filed a recall petition against this DA?”

This week, Armbrister told the Journal-World that he suggested the recall petition to the resident after the resident began messaging him over several months criticizing Valdez and Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden for their handling of a 2020 case in which a 17-year-old boy was initially charged with raping a 10-year-old girl. The case in June was resolved in a plea agreement, and the 17-year-old was convicted of a low-level aggravated battery charge and sentenced to six months of probation with no requirement to register as a sex offender.

Juelsgaard has been advocating for the 10-year-old online and in the community. He has put up a sign made of Christmas lights in North Lawrence that says “Justice 4 Lucy.” He told the Journal-World he is working with his attorney, Jody Meyer, to expose how the district attorney “blatantly mishandled (the) case then petition to have her recalled and the ultimate goal being Justice 4 Lucy.”

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

A sign reads “Justice 4 Lucy” at the intersection of Second and Lyon streets in North Lawrence.

When asked how serious he was about starting a recall effort to remove Valdez from office, Juelsgaard said, “As serious as a heart attack”.

Successful recall elections of local officials in Kansas are rare. The recall process is complex and fairly time-consuming.

To initiate a recall election for a local official, a person must contact the clerk of Douglas County. The form to be used for a recall petition is outlined in a state statute known as K.S.A. 25-4320. Normally, the district attorney would determine the sufficiency of the grounds for the recall and the format of the petition, but in the case of a petition targeting a DA, a judge would appoint an attorney to assume that role.

The number of valid signatures required for a recall election is a minimum of 40% of the number of people who voted in the last general election for the current term of the DA. The recall petition can circulate for 90 days. A recall election is held no sooner than 60 days and no later than 90 days after signatures are certified.

Armbrister said that it wasn’t his intent to encourage the resident to file the petition but instead that he was looking for a way to take himself out of the conversation regarding what could be done about the matter.

“I stand by my statement that if this family believes their criticism of the DA warrants it, they should look into filing a recall petition. That is the right of any citizen, but my intent was to remove myself from the conversation,” Armbrister said.

Valdez said her office has been committed to following through on her campaign promise to operate with a victim-centric approach when prosecuting cases and that she is sorry that Juelsgaard did not feel that justice was served.

“The sad reality is that there are instances in which we have done everything possible to salvage cases irreparably damaged by circumstances beyond our control. I can assure that in those instances, my office does everything legally possible to achieve some measure of justice, and I am saddened when the victims do not feel that justice was served especially in matters involving child victims,” Valdez said.

The criminal case in question did have complications before it could go to trial. The case was affected by the status of the detective, Christopher Thomas, who investigated the alleged sexual assault, Armbrister said. The assault investigation began in September of 2020 and when Armbrister took over as sheriff in 2021 he began reviewing the personnel records of deputies in the office.

“I began looking closely into this specific investigator in reference to incidents not associated with this incident. Through that process, my administration identified issues that needed to be investigated more thoroughly. We removed this detective from active cases and placed him on administrative leave,” Armbrister said.

Thomas was allowed to resign in May of 2021 and the office filed a form with the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training. Armbrister said the form listed the reason for separation from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office as a Brady-Giglio designation and possible violations of Kansas law.

Brady-Giglio, named after two U.S. Supreme Court cases, refers to the evidence that the state must turn over to the defendant to prepare a criminal case, including evidence favorable to the defendant and evidence affecting the credibility of witnesses for the state.

The removal of the detective from this case and others was a coordinated effort between the DA’s office and the sheriff’s office, Armbrister said, but he added that Thomas’ work on the sexual assault case could have stood on its own.

“We have reviewed this criminal investigation and have found the investigation itself to be very good and thorough. It included a confession from the suspect. And outside of Brady-Giglio issues with this investigator, but not with others who can testify, there were no problems identified that would have presented issues in the prosecution of the case,” Armbrister said.

Armbrister told the Journal-World that he was not a part of the negotiations for the plea agreement and that “The District Attorney would have to provide further insight into the handling and disposition of this criminal prosecution specifically.”

Valdez and Armbrister, both Democrats, were sworn into office in January of 2021, and Valdez inherited the caseload from the previous district attorney, Charles Branson. The case in question was filed by Assistant District Attorney Deborah Moody, according to court records. Moody worked for Branson and left the office shortly after Valdez took over. Court records indicate the plea hearing for the case was on June 14, 2022, and that Valdez and Seiden appeared on behalf of the state.

Valdez and Armbrister have clashed before. As reported by the Journal-World, less than a week before the exchange between Armbrister and the resident, on Sept. 22 Valdez served Armbrister and Undersheriff Stacy Simmons more than a dozen subpoenas to appear in court in what Armbrister called, in a motion to quash the subpoenas, an “effort to intimidate and bully” his office into complying with the DA’s new Brady-Giglio policy.

Valdez issued a similar set of subpoenas to Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart around the same time. Lockhart also filed a motion to quash those subpoenas and said Valdez appeared to have “weaponized her subpoena powers” and that she issued the subpoenas in retaliation for the Lawrence Police Department’s refusal to comply with Valdez’s Brady-Giglio policy.

The conflict between Valdez and Armbrister has raised some questions as to how well their two organizations can work together. When asked directly about the sheriff’s actions and urging the resident to file the petition, Valdez’s public information officer, Cheryl Cadue, said:

“District Attorney Suzanne Valdez prefers to serve her community by being present in the office, in court and through direct interaction with members of the public as well as our law enforcement community. Others may prefer to be only accessible and visible through social media. There are many different leadership styles, but DA Valdez will always place a premium on actual presence and engagement in the day-to-day work of keeping our community safe.”