by Mary Rupert
Candidates for Wyandotte County District Attorney discussed their views of plea deals at a virtual candidate forum held Thursday afternoon, July 23.
Challenger Kristiane Bryant said plea deals should not be made in lieu of going to trial on a difficult case.
Incumbent District Attorney Mark Dupree said plea deals are not leading to an increase in crime, but are helping people focus on the underlying issues why defendants may keep committing crimes, and arranging behavioral treatment for some.
Bryant said there is a substantial surge in violent crime in this community, victims need to be treated with respect, and everyone deserves to be treated fairly and consistently by the district attorney’s office. She said the community should be engaged in discussions to help reduce crime.
Dupree said he created the first conviction integrity unit in the history of the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office. That unit examines selected old cases to determine if there were wrongful convictions. He also is in the process of starting a community integrity unit to examine law enforcement misconduct in Wyandotte County. He also said he had changed the culture of the office, created a youth mentoring program and a community liaison board. He has sought to make the office’s processes more just, and that has resulted in political attacks, he said.
On the topic of plea deals, Dupree said over 85 percent of all criminal cases in any jurisdiction, including Wyandotte County, are pled out. None of the jurisdictions are taking everything to court, he said.
Yes, there has been an increase in plea deals in the district attorney’s office, he said. He said a behavior health court for people who have behavioral health problems helps look at underlying issues of defendants. In order to reduce crime, they have to look at recidivism, and the reasons for crime occurring again, he added. Plea deals also are being made in veterans’ court, he said. Some of these courts point defendants in the direction of behavioral treatment.
“Some people need to go to prison,” he said. “Not all people need to go to prison.”
He disagreed that plea deals are leading to an increase in crime. Unless people are focusing on underlying issues, they cannot focus on how to reduce the crime here, which is why they have focused on community trust and community transparency, he said.
“We have to continue to focus on being smart on crime, take each case with the facts and evidence you have on each case,” he said. “One shoe does not fit all.”
While there is a place in the judicial system for plea agreements, they need to be made mindfully, Bryant said.
The district attorney’s office needs to take into consideration the victims’ perspective and what their input is; the level of danger someone poses to the community; and what is a fair and just outcome, she said.
“They absolutely should have a place, but it shouldn’t be in lieu of going to trial on a difficult case,” Bryant said.
“If we routinely plead down violent crime cases and let people walk free that are causing damage to our community, we are much less likely to have witnesses and victims that come forward and report crimes, and ultimately participate in the process in the criminal justice system,” she said.
She said the office needs to communicate with victims about what the district attorney’s office does, being consistent with respectful communication.
Other topics discussed at the forum included reaching out to minority communities and criminal justice reform.
Dupree said he has implemented policies for criminal justice reform, including the conviction integrity unit in the district attorney’s office.
Dupree was elected district attorney in 2016. He had prior experience as a criminal defense attorney and as an assistant prosecuting attorney. He serves as a member of the Kansas Sentencing Commission and the Kansas Commission on Racial Equity and Justice.
Bryant was an assistant district attorney in the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office for seven years, until 2016. She also worked in the Kansas attorney general’s office for more than three years, including section leader, coordinating prosecutors of sexually violent predator cases. She is currently the trial team leader of the violent crimes unit in the Jackson County prosecutor’s office, managing attorneys and prosecuting homicide, robbery and assault cases.
Dupree’s last available campaign finance statement from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission online, which is more than six months old, showed a loan from himself to his campaign.
Bryant’s last available campaign finance statement from the ethics commission online, which is more than six months old, showed contributions from Martin Cervantes; Don Gray; Jennifer Tatum, an attorney; and from Bryan Underwood, bail bondsman, as well as a contribution from the candidate.
The primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 4. Early voting has started and mail ballots also are available.
The July 23 forum was sponsored by Business West and Kansas City Kansas Community College.
The program was moderated by Murrel Bland, executive director of Business West and former editor of the Wyandotte West newspaper. Panelists at the program were Elnora Tellis Jefferson, with the Historic Midtown Neighborhood Association; Edgar Galicia, Central Avenue Betterment Association; and Mary Rupert, editor, Wyandotte Daily.
The candidate forum for DA contest is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3QuXngQMMY/
The forum also will be shown on KCKCC’s cable television station. To see a schedule of times, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/candidate-forums-to-be-shown-on-cable-tv-and-online/.
To see questionnaires from the two candidates, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/candidates-for-district-attorney-tell-qualifications/.
Stories about Election 2020 are found under the category tab “Election 2020” or at https://wyandotteonline.com/tag/election-2020/.
For more election information, visit the Wyandotte County Election Office website at https://wycovotes.org/.