photo by: Douglas County Government

A prosecutor with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has been named the 2022 Kansas Prosecutor of the Year for her work with children in need of care.

The Kansas County and District Attorneys Association announced the winner of the award, Katy Britton, at its fall conference last week. The association is made up of state, county and city employees whose principal duties are prosecution of violations of state laws, according to the KCDAA website.

“Today, 100% of Katy’s case work is devoted to protecting children, while ensuring parental rights are protected through her hard work, caring spirit, and her respect and dignity for all individuals involved in the system,” Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez said of Britton in a nomination letter for the award.

Britton has been with the District Attorney’s Office since 2007 after graduating from the University of Nebraska College of Law. She worked with former Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson as a charging and division attorney and litigated 23 jury trials before devoting herself to child in need of care cases in 2016, Valdez said.

According to the DA’s website, child in need of care cases involve children who are without adequate parental care, have been abused or neglected, are runaways or are not attending school as required.

“Katy was instrumental in ensuring the smooth transition of my administration during the peak of the COVID pandemic,” Valdez said. “Katy also worked hard to address our local truancy problem.”

Valdez accepted the award at the ceremony on Oct. 20 because Britton was on vacation at the time of the conference, said Cheryl Cadue, spokesperson for the DA’s office.

Britton’s nomination letter included statements from Hayley Battenberg with the Kansas Department for Children and Families; Bethany Roberts, a former Douglas County pro tem judge handling child in need of care cases; Kerrie Lonard, a former managing attorney of Kansas Legal Services in Topeka; and Jackie Zensen and Megan Rubio, civilian investigators for the Lawrence Police Department.

Valdez also hired another Kansas Prosecutor of the Year winner in September. Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tatum won the award in 2017 while working at the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office.