Missouri man who served 28 months in prison sues federal public defender’s office
A Missouri man who spent more than two years in prison is suing the federal public defender’s office for malpractice.
Aaron Winters, 30, said his public defender advised him to take a guilty plea when he was innocent.
In October 2012, Winters was arrested by the Kansas City Police Department. Officers found a gun during the arrest and he was charged in federal court on a single count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Winters alleges his public defender told him he had no defense and he pleaded guilty.
However Winters later learned that he was not a convicted felon barred from possessing a gun.
In a previous case, he had been convicted of possessing marijuana without a tax stamp in Kansas. But because he was sentenced to less than one year, Winters was not barred from having a gun, according to federal law.
“You don’t let things like that go by,” said Richard Dowd, Winters’ attorney in the lawsuit. “You look into it and see what is, in fact, a felony according to that statute.”
Federal prosecutors recommended Winters be released and his conviction overturned.
He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and served 28.
In his lawsuit against the Office of the Public Defender, Western District of Missouri, Winters alleges the public defender failed to perform basic legal research and improperly advised him to enter a guilty plea. That negligence, Winters said, led to wrongful imprisonment and loss of income and wages.
The Office of the Public Defender and its attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
