After nine months, a pair of special prosecutors has cleared former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison of criminal wrongdoing in an investigation of his conduct during an extramarital affair. Morrison’s political nemesis, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, handpicked Tim Keck and Robert Arnold to investigate allegations that Morrison used his affair with Linda Carter to attempt ...
The New York Times reports today about prosecutorial misconduct by the Rove Republican Racket in the political persecution of Governor Don Siegelman.. Lawyers for Donald E. Siegelman, the former Alabama governor convicted on corruption charges in 2006, have asked for a new trial based on “newly discovered evidence” of prosecutorial misconduct in the case....The motions argue that the ...
Johnson County District Attorney - Stephen M. Howe. The District Attorney’s Office will protect the safety of the public through a fair application of the law. The office seeks to achieve this by implementing the following values:
My name is Paul Morrison. I spent 18 years as the District Attorney for Johnson County, earning a reputation as an aggressive advocate with a history of prevailing in court. I know how the criminal justice system operates, how to expose weaknesses in the opposition's case and how to emphasize the strengths of your case in all of the areas of law that I practice.
Call Morrison & Dersch, LLC, in Olathe at (913) 780-6666 or send an e-mail to schedule a free consultation.
41 Action News Reporter Ariel Rothfield contributed to this story.
41 Action News filed a lawsuit against the city of Overland Park to obtain a copy of the Johnson County Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team, or OISIT, Report about the deadly shooting of 17-year-old John Albers by former Overland Park Police Officer Clayton Jenison, which the city released Thursday.
Voluntary manslaughter is defined under Kansas law as "knowingly killing a human being upon an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified that use of deadly force."
But Morrison contends the OISIT Report lacks important evidence. "I would've sent it back for more work," he said. Specifically, Morrison said there wasn't any information on the trajectory of the bullets, which entered the side panels of the car and could've been traced.
According to her account, the affair began in September 2005 and lasted about two years. Linda Carter also accused him of attempting to influence a federal lawsuit involving a political opponent.
Those disputes spilled into Morrison's affair with Carter, according to her statement. Carter said Morrison also was upset that she continued to work for Kline until she left the district attorney's office in late November.
Her group has been following Morrison's activities closely because abortion was an important issue in the attorney general's race. The candidates argued about Kline's pursuit of records from abortion clinics as part of a criminal investigation.
During the campaign, Morrison faced alle gations that he had drunkenly propositioned another female employee in a bar in 1990. But two federal lawsuits arising from those claims were dismissed, and when Kline raised the claims as an issue during the campaign's final weeks, the tactic backfired.
Before the affair became public, even some Republicans assumed Morrison wouldn't face a serious challenge if he sought re-election in 2010. He won the attorney general's race last year with 59 percent of the vote.
Morrison, who is married and has three children, said Sunday that many of Carter's claims are "patently false," but he confirmed they had a relationship.
Carter, former director of administration for the district attorney's office, accuses Morrison of trying to pressure her to write letters on behalf of eight former employees who were dismissed by Kline. In August, a federal magistrate dismissed all but one count in a wrongful termination lawsuit they filed.
Paul J. Morrison (born June 1, 1954) is an American lawyer and former Attorney General of Kansas. Morrison attended Washburn University and Washburn School of Law, graduating in 1980. While at Washburn, he was a member of the Kansas Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta .
Morrison announced his resignation on December 14, stating that his tenure would end on January 31, 2008. On that date, Morrison was succeeded as Attorney General by Douglas County District Court Judge Stephen Six.
In December 2007 allegations surfaced that Morrison had an affair with an office administrator, Linda Carter, in the district attorney's office, that continued after he was elected Attorney General. Carter filed a sexual harassment claim with the EEOC alleging that Morrison pressured her to obtain sensitive information about Kline and several pending investigations at the district attorney's office. Morrison admitted to the infidelity, but denies any impropriety, sexual harassment, pressure to obtain sensitive information, or influence the course of an investigation.