photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Prosecutor Cody Smith, from left, defendant William Pope and defense attorney Gary West leave Judge Stacey Donovan’s courtroom after Pope’s plea hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office is asking a judge to keep secret the reasons of police for arresting a man in an armed robbery and assault case — a request that comes on the heels of the DA also asking for the plea agreement itself to be kept under wraps.

The reasons for the requested secrecy are unknown because such requests are themselves filed under seal.

As the Journal-World reported, the DA recently cut a deal with defendant William Pope, a 44-year-old repeat felon who was accused of trying to rob a woman at gunpoint at a liquor store earlier this year. In that plea agreement, which Judge Stacey Donovan allowed to be filed under seal, the DA agreed that there would be “no finding” that a firearm was used; dropped two other felony charges; did not object to Pope’s GPS monitor being removed in the months before sentencing; and recommended that he be given probation.

That much information is known because the Journal-World attended the plea hearing, but the complete plea agreement has not been made available in the court record.

An arrest affidavit, which the Journal-World has requested, would outline the circumstances that led to the police arresting Pope. The DA this week joined the defendant’s objection to release of that document, even though Pope has already been convicted of one count of aggravated assault in the matter and other charges have been dropped.

Donovan has yet to rule on the request to keep the affidavit out of public view.

A preliminary hearing would have been an opportunity for the public to discover more about the evidence in the case, but Pope evidently waived that hearing, as is his right. The absence of a preliminary hearing together with a sealed affidavit and a sealed plea agreement would mean extremely limited public access to information about the case.

When the Journal-World asked Assistant DA Cody Smith last week why the plea agreement was sealed, he indicated that he would have to ask his supervisor before providing any information. No information had been provided by Thursday.

Pope was originally charged with attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated assault for a March 4 incident in which he reportedly donned a face covering and aggressively demanded money from a person at Buddy’s Liquor on West Sixth Street. In both charges, he was accused of brandishing a firearm. In a separate case from December 2024, he was accused of felony theft of a Trek bicycle worth more than $1,500.

Last week, Pope pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated assault, and the other felony charges were dismissed. Smith said the state would agree to “no finding” that a gun was used and would recommend probation.

Pope is a felon many times over. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, he has convictions for theft and burglary in Osage County in 2012; for forgery in Anderson County in 2003; for burglary and aggravated assault in Shawnee County in 2012 and 2013; for robbery in Franklin County in 2013; and for robbery in Douglas County in 2006. He was discharged from the prison system in May of last year, according to the KDOC, which indicates he also goes by the aliases William Scobee or Bill Scobee.