photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Rontarus Washington Jr., center, walks out of the Douglas County Jail with his mother, Kenisha Clark, at left, and a bondsman on July 1, 2020.

A former Douglas County district attorney who’s named in a lawsuit filed by Rontarus Washington Jr. for wrongful incarceration asked the court on Thursday to dismiss the case for a number of reasons, including prosecutorial immunity, the statute of limitations and failure to specify a violation — echoing recent requests by Douglas County and several sheriffs who have also been sued by Washington, who was prosecuted in the 2014 killing of a Lawrence woman.

Former DA Charles Branson’s response, filed in the U.S. District Court of Kansas by Assistant Attorney General Shon Qualseth, points to “vague” language in Washington’s claim that Washington was “subjected to lawful but wrongful legal process” and that the “defendants had customs or policies which led to Rontarus’ constitutional rights being violated.”

Qualseth’s motion argues that the lawsuit by Washington, who spent more than five years in the Douglas County Jail, fails to lay out any instances where Branson violated any laws or acted maliciously and that Washington’s complaint even states that the actions taken by the prosecution were lawful.

“There are no allegations … that there was no probable cause to support the arrest, confinement, or prosecution of plaintiff,” the motion states, or that Branson acted maliciously. The motion states that there are only vague and unsupported allegations of failure to adequately investigate and diligently prosecute Washington’s criminal case, and it states that most delays in the case were to accommodate Washington and his attorneys.

The motion also states that Branson is “entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity” so long as he was acting on behalf of the state and that Washington’s claim makes no allegations that Branson “took any actions other than acting as an advocate for Douglas County.”

The motion argues that the statute of limitations required Washington’s suit to be filed within a year of the time his case was dismissed in December of 2021; the suit wasn’t formally filed until February of this year.

As the Journal-World reported, the arguments by Qualseth on behalf of Branson are similar to arguments in a motion in March on behalf of the county and sheriffs, who are represented by Michael K. Seck with Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith LLP, of Overland Park.

Seck’s response denied the claims in Washington’s lawsuit, stating that Washington was detained lawfully with a bond of $750,000 and was awaiting trial for the majority of his imprisonment, which was prolonged due to many continuances in the case, most of which were attributable to Washington getting seven different attorneys at various points.

The response also denied that Washington was subjected to “malicious prosecution” because “the criminal proceeding did not result in a favorable termination.” Because charges against Washington were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled, there is no court order or statement from a judge determining that Washington was in any way exonerated.

Washington’s attorney, Larry Michel, has yet to file a response to Branson’s motion or that of the other defendants.

Background

Washington’s lawsuit was filed on Feb. 15 by Michel, of the Kennedy Berkley law office of Salina, and names Branson, Sheriff Jay Armbrister and former sheriffs Ken McGovern and Randy Roberts as defendants, along with Douglas County generally, as the Journal-World reported.

In the initial notice of the suit sent in July of 2022 to the county, Michel said that Washington, 26, of Hinesville, Georgia, would be seeking an amount to exceed $3 million for wrongful incarceration, lost wages, mental anguish and loss of society.

The suit was filed after Washington spent more than five years in the Douglas County Jail charged with the murder of Justina Altamirano Mosso, 19, whose body was found Nov. 9, 2014, at her Lawrence apartment after she had been repeatedly bludgeoned and stabbed. No one else has been charged in connection with her death, and the case remains unsolved.

Washington was eventually tried by Branson’s office in 2019, and the jury could not reach a verdict. He was released on July 1, 2020, after his bond was reduced from $750,000 to $500,000 and a community effort raised the money to post his bail.

The case was dismissed without prejudice on Dec. 22, 2021, by current District Attorney Suzanne Valdez, about a year after she was elected as DA.