A Shawnee County choose denied Tuesday a request from the protection group of Dana Chandler to disqualify the entire Shawnee County District Attorney’s office from managing her retrial in a 2002 double homicide.
Chandler was originally convicted in 2012 in the murder of Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness, but the Kansas Supreme Court docket overturned that result in 2017 and mandated a retrial owing to misconduct by prosecutor Jacqie Spradling.
Far more:Disciplinary panel endorses Jacqie Spradling be disbarred about misconduct allegations
Spradling, who moved on to do the job as a prosecutor in Allen and Bourbon counties, has due to the fact remaining her posts in these workplaces and is awaiting probable willpower from the Kansas Supreme Court docket soon after a panel encouraged she be disbarred for her actions in Chandler’s demo and a 2nd case.
In a motion filed in July, Chandler’s lawyers argued the recent district attorney, Mike Kagay, backed Spradling in a motion prior to the Kansas Supreme Courtroom, jeopardizing the objectivity of his business.
They also argued in a listening to in August that the DA’s workplace experienced continued slighting Chandler’s protection workforce by building it more challenging to attain files and evidence.
But Shawnee County District Courtroom Judge Cheryl Rios rejected individuals arguments, declaring in get to succeed in disqualifying a prosecutor’s office environment, an individual should show a distinct conflict of interest — a common she did not think Chandler met.
What’s more, Rios mentioned no recent members of the district attorney’s workplace worked on the original 2012 demo.
“There is no proof to guidance a request to disqualify the overall prosecutor’s business office,” Rios wrote in her belief.
She also reported there was not a demonstrated need to have for the present-day prosecutor, deputy district legal professional Charles Kitt, to testify in the scenario.
Rios explained the point out experienced conceded a vital spot of alleged misconduct by Spradling, namely false testimony allegedly specified by a Topeka Police Office detective in 2012 indicating the existence of a defense from abuse order received versus Chandler by Sisco, her ex-partner.
No PFA buy was located to have existed and it was a cornerstone of the misconduct case against Spradling. Rios mentioned the state had given that acknowledged that fact.
A hearing on Chandler’s scenario is scheduled for Thursday. Rios has scheduled the retrial to get started in August 2022.
Andrew Bahl is a senior statehouse reporter for the Topeka Funds-Journal. He can be arrived at at [email protected] or by phone at 443-979-6100.