photo by: Contributed

David Greenwald

The deputy district attorney is no longer employed in the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, and indications are that it was not his choice to leave.

The Journal-World first learned that Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald no longer works for DA Dakota Loomis from sources close to the office, although the circumstances of his departure remain unclear. A person answering the phone at the office Thursday afternoon declined to say even whether Greenwald still worked there.

Later Thursday, Loomis told the Journal-World via text that Greenwald’s last day was Tuesday, but he did not elaborate on the circumstances of his deputy’s departure. Loomis said that Greenwald’s responsibilities had been reassigned but that his position had not been filled.

Greenwald was set to prosecute a double homicide — the case of Rodney Marshall — in September. When asked whether Greenwald’s departure would cause a trial delay, Loomis said he did not “anticipate delays to any upcoming trials including the Marshall matter.”

Greenwald was one of the attorneys, along with Loomis, in the ongoing case of Mark Gridley, a speech pathologist accused of molesting multiple children at a Lawrence elementary school. Greenwald recently won a first-degree murder conviction in the case of a man accused of shooting another man to death in front of the Lawrence Public Library. He also recently won a conviction in the case of a man accused of raping a woman eight years ago as she slept.

Greenwald joined the DA’s Office in June 2021. He was promoted from senior assistant district attorney to deputy district attorney under former DA Suzanne Valdez, whose previous deputy DA, Joshua Seiden, was forced out of the office after he dressed in a costume and mocked a man whom the office had once prosecuted.

Greenwald ran as a Republican candidate in the 2024 race for Johnson County district attorney. The Journal-World reached out to him for comment but did not immediately hear back. It appeared Thursday that he had already gained new employment with the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office, where he had previously worked from 2017 to 2019.