photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

David Shane Williams, pictured in February 2020

A former Lawrence police officer who’s accused of improperly accessing a woman’s driving records in a law enforcement database will be pursuing a diversion agreement for the second time after a previous attempt couldn’t reach a resolution.

David Shane Williams, 35, of De Soto, is charged with one felony count of unlawful acts with a computer and one misdemeanor count of official misconduct of an officer, according to court documents. Specifically, he’s accused of misusing his police credentials in 2019 to access driving records for a woman with whom he’s involved in custody litigation, as the Journal-World previously reported.

Since Williams was originally charged in February 2020, the case has gone through numerous procedural twists and turns. Originally, he was charged with just the misdemeanor official misconduct count, and court records indicate that he was pursuing a diversion agreement in that case. A diversion agreement is a process that can allow defendants in criminal cases to complete a program rather than face prosecution. If the program is completed successfully, the prosecutor will generally drop the charges.

However, court records show that Williams rejected the state’s diversion offer in July 2020 and requested a jury trial instead. The trial was eventually scheduled for September 2021 after Williams’ defense attorney, Michael Riling, requested a series of continuances. But on Sept. 13, 2021 — three days before the trial was scheduled to start — the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled. Prosecutors said they were requesting the dismissal “out of necessity.” Williams’ case was then refiled in January 2022, with the new charge of felony unlawful acts with a computer added on, and he was arrested in March 2022 on suspicion of the new charges, according to court records.

On Tuesday, Williams and Riling appeared in Douglas County District Court and asked for more time to work out a new diversion agreement with the prosecution. Senior Assistant District Attorney Seth Brackman said he thought diversion would be an appropriate resolution to the case, and Chief Judge James McCabria set a new court date for Williams on Aug. 30. At that time, the court will hear a status update on the diversion — or, if a deal cannot be reached, a preliminary hearing will be held to determine whether to bind Williams over for trial.

The charges stem from an incident in April 2019. According to court documents, Williams is accused of using his credentials on multiple occasions to access driving records of a woman with whom he’s involved in custody litigation. An affidavit supporting his arrest alleges that he forwarded information from those records to the woman’s insurance company, including a report that she might have been driving on a suspended license.

According to the affidavit, the insurance company reportedly called the woman later in April and told her a police officer had shared information with the company about her driving records. The affidavit says the woman contacted her attorney, who then notified the attorney who was representing Williams in the custody dispute. Williams then retracted his statements to the insurance company and apologized to the woman, and the woman promised not to report the incident to the Lawrence Police Department, according to the affidavit.

However, the affidavit said that in November 2019, the woman called a Kansas Highway Patrol auditor and asked the auditor how many times Williams had accessed her information. The auditor then called the Lawrence Police Department about the woman’s claims. Lawrence police investigators questioned Williams, and according to the affidavit he told them that he accessed the woman’s driver’s license and insurance information in the database, shared the information with his attorney and called the woman’s insurance company about it. The affidavit said Williams told investigators “he did not think it was illegal to access the Kansas files … as long as he did not check any of her information through (the National Crime Information Center).”

On Nov. 21, 2019, Williams was placed on paid administrative leave from the Lawrence Police Department. He resigned three weeks later, on Dec. 12, 2019.

Williams has been free on a $3,000 own-recognizance bond since his arrest on March 3.