Missouri prosecutor says she can argue cases her husband, a detective, investigated
An assistant prosecuting attorney in Buchanan County said she can remain fair while calling her husband — a police detective — to testify in cases, but a defense attorney and a legal ethics expert believe she should recuse herself.
A public defender in St. Joseph filed motions to remove Monica Morrey from prosecuting cases investigated by her husband, St. Joseph Police Det. Aaron Beene.
On one recent case, Beene helped execute the search warrant, took a statement from the defendant, who was in jail at the time, and wrote the probable cause statement. The case was sent to the Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, where it became Morrey’s.
Public defender Karen Klingbeil wrote in a motion that Morrey’s objectivity could become compromised.
“The personal ties between the prosecutor and lead witness in this case are incredible and cannot be compared to friendship,” she said. “There is an appearance of impropriety, and the prosecutor’s office has taken no steps to remedy it.”
The prosecutor’s office argued that “the facts do not support the finding of an appearance of impropriety that would cast doubt on the fairness of a trial.”
Rodney Uphoff, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law, said conflicts of interest aren’t unusual.
“There’s kind of two ways traditionally that this has been handled,” he said. “If the office is big enough, then one prosecutor will generally step off of the case and some other person in the office will handle it.”
The Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office has eight attorneys, according to Prosecutor Ron Holliday.
In more extreme cases, an entire office may be conflicted and an independent prosecutor will be called in.
“If I was a prosecutor, and my spouse was a witness in the case, I don’t believe that I would feel comfortable remaining as the prosecutor in that case,” Uphoff said. “If nothing else, there is the appearance of unfairness.”
Holliday said Beene’s involvement in the recent case was limited.
“Once that kind of thing starts, where does it end? Should all prosecutors recuse themselves if they’re friends with officers? If they go to church with officers? Where does it end?” Holliday said. “Certainly this is a married situation so it’s a little different. But that’s where we sort of draw the line — is the officer a crucial or critical witness in the case? If so, the prosecutor probably should recuse themselves.”
The public defender also said Morrey should have at least formally notified the defense about the relationship. Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, prosecutors are required to disclose known biases of witnesses.
Klingbeil wrote that public defenders learned of the relationship through word of mouth and social media, but were never formally notified.
“I think that information, if I was the prosecutor, I would have disclosed,” Uphoff said.
However Holliday said that was “ridiculous.”
“Everybody in the public defender’s office, everybody in town, knows that this particular prosecutor is married to this officer,” he said. “It’s not a Giglio issue, a Brady issue. It has nothing to do with this situation. I don’t know why that was even mentioned in the motion. It’s not relevant.”
According to court records, the defendant was sentenced June 16 to one year in jail for a probation violation and the motions were not argued.
